Brussels, 02/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be in Brussels on Monday 5 October to talk about the migration crisis. Turkey is hosting over 2 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Turkey's ambassador to the EU, Selim Yenel, told EUROPE on Monday 30 September about the situation in Turkey and the relations between the EU and his country with regard to this issue. (Interview conducted by Camille-Cerise Gessant)
What is the current situation in Turkey regarding the refugee crisis?
We have now more than 2 million refugees who we call guests. They are mostly Syrians but we also have about 300,000 Iraqis. We have 25 or 26 camps and about 260,000 of them are in these camps. The rest of them are spread out in the country. For example, Istanbul has around 300,000. We have registered almost all of them. We provide them with health services and education. The only thing that we are not able to do is to provide employment yet. We have legislation in the pipeline but since the Parliament is not open because we will have elections in one month time, this will only happen after the elections.
Up until now we have spent more than $6.5 billion and we have not complained. For us, when the whole thing started, in 2011, our red line was 100,000 “guests”. Now as I said we have more than 2 million people and we will still keep our doors open no matter what happens.
These people are free to go anywhere they want. We have those in the camps, they are secure. We have those from the middle class who are in the country and they have provided their own means. And then we have a third group of people who think that there are now opportunities elsewhere. And of course when Germany made the statement in August that they will have 800,000 refugees or more coming into the country, the refugees think in simple terms that Germany will accept 800,000 and therefore Germany has become a magnet, that attracted everybody, and the migrants are taking all risks to go to Greece and then forwards.
If more and more refugees continue to leave Syria and come to Turkey, will Turkey still be able to deal with this crisis?
As I said, we had a limit that we thought was 100,000 and we have gone far beyond that. We don't have a red line anymore. Our biggest worry is Aleppo. Aleppo is the second biggest Syrian city and it is in danger of being overrun. There are 3 million people living there so there can be other waves into Turkey and we will not close our doors. This is not our habit. It's not humanitarian if you close your doors to these people who are fleeing for their lives.
When you say it's not humanitarian to close the doors, are you also talking about EU member states?
Absolutely, it's a message because we have been opening our doors for the last four years.
Last week, during the summit some heads of state and government said 'we have to help Turkey more to keep refugees there so they will not make the dangerous journey to the EU'. What do you think about that?
You can't just pour money into it. It's not about money and the EU should see it that that way. It's about what these people want. I think the representatives of the member states should come to Turkey to talk to the refugees, talk to them about what they want and need, or they could explain that they are not welcome.
So what can the EU do or what does it have to do to help Turkey?
Those movements from Turkey to other places have to be organised on a legal basis. And we can help the EU to distinguish who is a real Syrian refugee and those who are economic migrants. We need help with regards to services. We provide health and education services so in that sense the EU could help us. But not pouring money in. The Commission has announced that they are willing to give us €1 billion, but this is a rather strange way for helping us because it is already IPA money, and it's for accession purposes.
The EU also has to help with regards to solving the crisis itself. Now it's becoming more and more complicated because there is no unity on this either in the EU or in the international community. We have proposed a safe zone in northern Syria but to accomplish this we need the coalition forces to back us. This should be a protected area, from the regime and from ISIL, to be protected by the free Syrian army, and we will build infrastructure there. Not just camps but cities, in which Syrians will feel secure enough to return.
You were talking about the €1 billion the European Commission has proposed to reallocate to refugee-related projects. Are you against this?
We accept €120 million. Why? Because that is going to go back to the budget. It was unused so we understand €120 million to be saved could be used for that purpose. But the rest is supposed to be for our own accession process. Until now we have already spent more than $6.5 billion on the refugees. So help from the European Commission or from the member states, has to be something else, something extra.
Is the crisis having an impact on EU-Turkey relations?
If there is a silver lining to what happened in the last few months, it has brought us together, the EU and Turkey. It has reopened the dialogue, to talk to each other more openly. There have been more and more contacts, the fact that Mr Tusk and some others went to Turkey, more and more discussion going on. Now we have been invited to a number of meetings, all because the EU has an interest in it. Up until now, until a few months ago, this was unfortunately not the case.
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is coming to Brussels on 5 October. What will his message be?
More cooperation, more dialogue, don't take decisions without consulting us.
You said Turkey could help the EU make the distinction between refugees and economic migrants. During the informal Foreign Affairs Council at the beginning of September, some ministers proposed putting hotspots in countries neighbouring Syria, to register the refugees. Has the European Commission officially asked you to do that and what do you think about this idea?
No, but we have heard about this idea. It has been floated. But we refuse them, we don't need hotspots. They are not feasible, nor politically viable either. The Syrians in Turkey are free to go anywhere they want and you can't put them in camps for being registered. Since they are registered by ourselves they can actually apply for asylum inside Turkey if they want to, as long as the EU is ready to accept that kind of pragmatic approach.
Some member states are questioning putting Turkey on the EU list of safe countries. What is your feeling about that?
First of all, I don't know why they need a safe countries list. Any candidate who is negotiating should be considered as a safe country by default. And we heard that there is some discussion going on not to consider Turkey as a safe country, which is ironic and contradictory because Turkey is supposed to be a safe country for the Syrians but not for the Turks. This is absurd.