Merkel holds talks with Turkey officials over refugee crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has held talks with Turkish leaders in Istanbul in a bid to win Turkey’s cooperation in addressing the historic flow of refugees to Europe.

Merkel met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday to discuss possible measures Ankara can take to stem the flow of refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East to Europe.

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forwards is very important," said Davutoglu after the meeting. 

He added that Turkey is working with the EU to agree on a plan to deal with the refugee issue.

For her part, Merkel said Ankara “had little international help until now for the huge contribution it has made."

She also stressed that the EU will “engage more strongly financially” to help Turkey deal with the refugees it is currently hosting.

Erdogan also said after meeting with Merkel that the two leaders exchanged views about the need to accelerate Turkey’s bid to join the EU and to "act together against terrorist organizations" in the region. 

Germany has been the main destination for refugees in Europe. They take dangerous boat journeys from Turkey to reach Europe’s front states of Greece and Italy and then take road trips from Balkans to reach Germany. Up to one million refugees are expected to arrive in Germany this year.

The European Union wants Ankara to tighten its border security and help stop the refugee influx in exchange for financial aid and further EU concessions. Turkey wants recognition of its role as a country hosting more than two million Syrian refugees, a rise in financial aid and consideration of its EU accession bid.

Erdogan has criticized Europe’s response to the refugee crisis and called on Brussels to consider Turkey’s bid for the EU membership more seriously.

“They announce they’ll take in 30,000 to 40,000 refugees and then they are nominated for the Nobel [Peace Prize] for that. We are hosting 2.5 million refugees but nobody cares," Erdogan told a conference in Istanbul on Friday in an apparent reference to reports that Merkel had been a favorite to win the award for her stance on refugees.

This as earlier on Sunday, the Greek coastguard said five asylum seekers drowned in two separate incidents while trying to reach Greece. In the first incident, the coastguard found the body of a baby and rescued 11 other people off the Kastellorizo island. They later found the body of two women and a boy and announced that they were still looking for a missing man.

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