Refugee crisis/Turkey summit

Ahead of this Monday's EU-Turkey summit on the refugee crisis, Greens/EFA co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Philippe Lamberts said:

"It is clear that the EU must cooperate with Turkey and President Erdogan in order to solve the refugee crisis but EU governments cannot simply abdicate their own responsibilities for the crisis to Turkey or other third countries. EU member states need to finally agree on a viable programme for resettling refugees in Turkey.

"While cooperation with Turkey is necessary, EU leaders cannot turn a blind eye to human rights violations and the civil war going on in Turkey itself. Many journalists are still behind bars and media freedom is being trampled. President Erdogan also refuses to accept the Turkish Constitutional Court's decision to release the journalist Can Dündar. Over a hundred civilians have been killed in the fight between the PKK and the Turkish security forces. Thousands of people are now fleeing from the cities in the South East of Turkey.  The summit must deal with these escalations taking place in Turkey itself. A possible relaunch of the peace process with the Kurdish people should also be on the agenda.”