EU warns Turkey: Deal may not happen

The European Commission has warned that a deal under negotiation to grant Turkish nationals visa-free access to Europe may not materialize if Ankara fails to reform its anti-terror laws.

Head of the commission Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday that the EU demanded changes to Ankara’s anti-terrorism laws, along with 72 other requirements, when the two sides sealed a broader deal in March.

“We have conducted negotiations with Turkey… We consider that it is important for these conditions to be fulfilled. Otherwise, this deal between the EU and Turkey will not happen,” said Juncker.

Under the broader EU-Turkey deal, Ankara agreed to take back all the asylum seekers and refugees who had used the Aegean Sea to illegally reach Greece. 

In return, Turkey was promised financial aid, the acceleration of visa liberalization talks and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

MSF blasts 'historic abdication' of moral duties 

Doctors Without Borders on Friday slammed the deal as a "historic abdication" of Europe's moral and legal responsibilities.

The medical charity, which goes by its French acronym MSF, voiced "profound concern" at the deal.

In an open letter to EU member states and institutions, MSF chief Joanne Liu said the agreement "effectively outsources caring for these people to Turkey." 

"In an era of the greatest displacement of humanity in decades, this is a historic abdication of your moral and legal responsibilities," she said.

The negotiations have been faltering as Turkey refuses to make changes to its anti-terror laws as required by the EU.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir have ruled out any changes to the country’s anti-terror laws.

Bozkir recently accused the EU of not conceding enough in the talks but Juncker shifted the blame back on Turkey.

“If Mr. Erdogan is pursuing a strategy of denying Turks the right to free travel to Europe, then he has to answer for this to the Turkish people. This is not my problem, this will be his problem,” Juncker said.

The EU considers the finalization of the deal with Turkey an increasingly unlikely outcome.

Such a view was revealed in a recent report by German Das Bild paper, which cited an anonymous EU minister as saying that the bloc is already considering a contingency plan — without Turkey.

The “Plan B” would include arrangements for Greece, instead of Turkey, to keep refugees and asylum-seekers on its islands in return for EU commitments similar to those it is making with Ankara.

Liu warned that the deal was "sending a troubling signal to the rest of the world: countries can buy their way out of providing asylum."

"If replicated by many nations, the concept of refugee will cease to exist," she cautioned.

She depicted a dystopian world in which "people will be trapped in war zones unable to flee for their lives, with no choice but to stay and die."

She also described Europe's accommodation of refugees stranded in Greece as "shameful."

"In camps on the Greek islands, there are virtually no safeguards in place," she said, pointing out that "women fear to go to the toilet once darkness falls... and men of all ages lose their dignity fighting over scraps of food."

Liu voiced outrage that Europe, the epicenter of World War II's massive displacement crisis, was "betraying the humanitarian principle of providing aid based on need alone."

"Is World War II so long ago that you no longer recall the basic human need to flee from violence and persecution when left with no other choice?" she asked.

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