ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkey and the European Union will seek to bring the uncontrolled tide of migrants into Europe under control, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday.
"Our common aim is to turn uncontrolled migration into controlled migration. The corridor from Syria is often used by migrants from other countries, who are not victims of war. We have taken the decision to impose a legal framework on this. Illegal migrants trying to enter Greece through Turkey will be detained and taken back to Turkey," Davutoglu said during a press conference following a meeting with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
Davutoglu led the Turkish delegation to the Turkey-Greece High Level Cooperation Council Meeting with Tsipras in the Turkish port city of Izmir earlier in the day.
The legal route through Turkey into Europe will be open only for refugees fleeing war, Davutoglu said, stating that economic migrants attempting to use the route will be returned to Turkey.
The Turkey-EU migrant readmission agreement will come into force on June 1, according to the prime minister. He added that in return, the European Union will introduce a visa-free regime with Turkey once the Turkish parliament enacts nine laws as per the agreement.
Europe is beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015.
