Erdogan Hopes EU to Allocate $3.3 Bln to Ankara After Migration Summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the European Union will provide Ankara 3 billion euros as a promised support.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he hoped the ongoing EU-Turkey migration summit would result in providing Ankara with 3 billion euros ($3.28 at current exchange rates) that the European Union pledged to allocate earlier.

On March 7, Brussels is hosting the EU-Turkey joint summit aimed at addressing the ongoing refugee crisis Europe is struggling to cope with. In November, the sides approved a joint plan to counter the influx of migrants to Europe, under which EU members are expected to give some 3 billion euros to Ankara in 2016-2017 and fast track talks for its accession to the bloc.

"We have spent $10 billion on acceptance of refugees. The European Union has been promising a support of 3 billion of euros, but has not given it yet. Four months have passed, but they are still promising. Now [Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu is there [in Brussels]. I hope, he will return with money," Erdogan said at a conference in Ankara.

He added that Turkish authorities had already rescued some 100,000 refugees, who headed to Europe.

Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty. The majority of migrants arrive in Europe through Turkey.