The agreement between EU member states and Turkey was made in March 2016, whereas Turkey pledged to halt illegal migration to Europe. The agreement implied that the EU states may return refugees who entered their territory from Turkey, and at the same time creating special conditions for Syrian refugees in Turkey; for every refugee from Syria who is not recognized as a refugee in an EU country and therefore is returned to Turkey, one Syrian refugee will be relocated from Turkey to one of the EU member states. The European Commission, additionally, allocated €270 million for construction of hundred schools in Turkey benefiting over 70,000 Syrian children, as well as to empower host communities to enable their facilitated integration.[1]
At the beginning of 2017, the European Commission published[2] the report indicating that during the EU-Turkey statement implementation, from March to 20 December 2016, 801 persons were returned from Greece to Turkey and 2,672 Syrian refugees were relocated from Turkey. The most refugees were relocated to Germany (1,060), followed by France (438), the Netherlands (409) and Sweden (278). Refugees were relocated also to Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Portugal and Spain. Almost half returns were done in the first two months of the implementation, while the least were returned in August 2016.
[1] Available on: http://europa.rs/facility-for-refugees-in-turkey-the-eu-invests-in-the-education-of-70000-syrian-refugee-children/?lang=en.
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/press-material/docs/state_of_play_-_eu-turkey_en.pdf
Photo: United nations