European Parliament Will Not Let Turkey Use Refugee Deal for Blackmail

The European Parliament will not turn a blind eye should Turkey fail to fulfill all the benchmarks necessary for it to be granted a visa-free regime in order to preserve the EU-Turkey deal on migration, the vice-chair of the parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, the European Parliament issued a statement saying that most of its members disagreed with the European Commission for proposing to ease visa requirements for Turkey even though the country has not yet fulfilled all the benchmarks necessary for visa regime liberalization.

"Now, it is up to the Turkish government to continue working on fulfilling all the set benchmarks. We should once again state that the European Parliament is not going to be blackmailed by the Turkish president on the EU-Turkey agreement on migrants," Iliana Iotova said.

LIBE held a meeting on May 9, at which it declared that Turkey should not be discriminated against but neither should it receive preferential treatment.

"Last but not least, the Parliament does not agree in general with the EC approach, where the European Union is trying to outsource its problems to any third country," Iotova added.

In mid-March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for legal Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate Turkey’s EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen area.

Turkey is yet to meet five out of the 72 total requirements, notably those related to data protection and anti-terrorism laws, among other issues.

Moreover, the Turkish government should be held accountable if recent allegations on border guards shooting Syrian refugees are true.

On Tuesday, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) advocacy group released a statement claiming that Turkish border guards were shooting and beating Syrian asylum seekers in March and April.

"If the information about these deadly actions by the border guards is confirmed, then the Turkish government should be held accountable and should take the necessary measurements to prevent such events from happening again," Iliana Iotova said.

According to the European Commission, Turkey has ensured that border management is carried out in accordance with the international refugee law and effectively allowing refugees in need of international protection to have access to asylum procedures.

Turkey, which is hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees, denied all reports of violence against refugees and declares an open-door policy toward migrants.

The HRW statement came about two weeks after media reported eight Syrian refugees, mostly women and children, were killed as Turkish border guards fired live rounds at them. The Russian Foreign Ministry called for an immediate reaction to the allegations from the international community.