Brussels, 03/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - A few days ahead of the EU-Turkey summit on 7 March, Turkey's Ambassador to the EU Selim Yenel tells EUROPE about his country's expectations. And he responds to European criticism. (Interview conducted by Solenn Paulic and Camille-Cerise Gessant)
Agence Europe - The EU says this Summit will be decisive in tackling the current migratory crisis. Do you agree with this assertion? And what do you say to Europeans who say Turkey is not doing enough?
Selim Yenel - We don't understand why it is so decisive. We have already done quite a bit. We believe we have committed ourselves and we have implemented the action plan, we're taking the measures. We have, for example, reintroduced visas for Syrians; we have passed legislation for them to work legally. We're working with Greek and Bulgarian colleagues, now NATO is involved.
We're doing all we can to stem the flows; what more do they want for us? This is very perplexing and surprising. So I don't understand, we have done more than enough, it's not to us to save the EU you know. We want to help the EU definitively but to call it decisive is the wrong word.
Why is it so decisive? We should take stock not only on migration issues but on the whole relationship. Our relationships are much more complex, more integrated.
We have other issues. We also want to see how much the EU is committed to Turkey, with regard to the example the resettlement issue. How they're going to help us.
We have to be reasonable, we are doing everything we can. We understand that the EU is concentrated on the numbers. We have now a mechanism with the EU in which we share data information, but our data is different. We can only give numbers of who have been caught, who was saved and how many traffickers put in jail while the EU and Frontex can only tell us how many people have come to the EU. And the EU relies on how many people have reached the EU. We also need from the EU a resettlement scheme, it will give the Syrians a legal way to come.
How confident are you that the resettlement scheme will be effective?
They say numbers must go down before, but we say it should go hand in hand. If they don't give an option to the Syrians, then they will continue to come. It should go hand in hand
In any case, we're doing our best, but the EU is not. They are fighting against themselves, recalling ambassadors from other Member states. We have never seen things like this before.
On resettlement, have you received pledges from member states so far?
No we haven't. But they have to agree among themselves beforehand.
So there's a disagreement on the numbers of people reaching the EU?
I can not challenge it because I don't have their figures. I have to trust them. But they should look at the trends. The figures will go down. It will take time, it won't happen immediately. We need patience, and we see that the EU has no patience.
On Monday, what will you say to your European partners?
We have done exactly what is necessary. We have agreed on November 29 on a joint action plan and we have committed ourselves to it and we have implemented it. What more do you want? They say that the numbers are not going down enough. Yes, but are they going down? Not fast enough but they are going down. And be patient, it's what we are saying.
Could you face consequences after the Summit? Is the EU pressuring you?
They can not put pressure on us, they're not in a position to do so. Even on visas. On the €3 billion (to finance the migration action plan), the money is not for us, it's for the Syrians. We will apply the readmission agreement in June. The EU will test it until September, the EC will then give a report. And then if there's no visa liberalisation, we will scrap the EU readmission agreement
Why do you think the European approach so far is a failure?
It's a big crisis they re not facing together. It's a crisis for the 28 coming from the outside and not from the inside like the eurozone crisis. They don't know how to handle it, a lot of countries have no experience with integration and migration, namely in the member states. And we have to be fair: they are afraid of the Islamic factor, of the Muslims. If they were Christians, it wouldn't be that difficult. So there is this cultural factor that we are facing and something that we have to understand. I understand it's a big problem, not as big as ours. That's why we were surprised last year when we saw this chaos. They should have a kind of integrated approach but they're not having it.
What do you think of the situation in Greece now facing a humanitarian crisis?
We have very good contact with them. More and more contacts are happening. There's NATO for the first time. Turkey and Greece are having much more dialogue. We want to help Greece and the EU. So when we have this commitment, we feel it's unfair to criticize Turkey for not doing enough
Would you say that your relationship with the EU is worse now than it was before?
No it's better than it was before. Our relationship is based on many, many things. We have very close relationships. The EU has criticized us in the past but I don't think it's fair to do so right now. We also have to talk about the big picture. In the end, what we want is the accession to the EU. The EU wants a summit on migration. We want a summit on everything.
Do you think you are the key player in this crisis, also on what is a European crisis?
Turkey is one of the key players, definitely. We have seen that because of the way we are now being treated. And we are aware of that, we are aware that the EU is in a very difficult position. And we are ready to help because - let me be very clear here - it's in our own interest to help the EU. We want a strong EU not a weak one. We don't want to join a weak club.
Will the summit only tackle migration issues or other issues as well?
On Monday, it will be a summit on migration or broader than that. They want to discuss migration, we want to discuss everything. And we will talk about everything. Maybe the focus will be on migration definitely but we will also touch upon other issues (accession process, visa liberalisation, high level dialogues, custom union, NDLR).
Do you want also to talk about the Syrian crisis?
Of course. Because this whole thing is based on the Syrian crisis. If we don't end the Syrian issue, refugees will continue to come. If Aleppo falls, what happens then? We are facing a big, big crisis there.
Do you think the EU is doing enough about the Syrian crisis and what more can it do?
We see that they are soft on Russia. Russia has changed the cohesion, not only because of before but now specially with being there on the ground. So, they have to be tougher on what it is happening there.
But the EU can say the same about Turkish strikes on Kurdish groups in Syria…
The Kurds are not attacking Daesh. They are trying to carve out a place for themselves, they are attacking the moderate opposition. Therefore, we believe that we have to prevent them from carving out their own territory. They are going to Arab territory.
At the beginning of February, Syrians were blocked at the Turkish-Syrian border because Turkey closed the border. What is the situation there now?
After Aleppo came in danger, we had 70,000 people coming to the border. We have accepted those who were in need: children, sick people. But we are now taking more caution because of the Daesh threat. We have captured a number of suicide bombers, so we are much more careful. But there are now camps on the Syrian side of the borders. We are helping them as well, providing food staff…
Do you know how many people are still on the border?
Around 50,000, I think.
What do you say to the EU who asked Turkey to open to borders at the beginning of February?
They should tell that to them, to the EU members first, before telling us. We have done already enough. We have now 2.5-2.6 million Syrian refugees and we have to be really careful about it because we are under threat. We had bombings in Istanbul and Ankara, so we have to be very careful. We are checking everybody at the border, more than before.