NATO Formulation for Refugees from Merkel, Davutoğlu

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Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel coming to Turkey to discuss refugee crisis as the main agenda item have held a press statement following bilateral talks.

Davutoğlu: NATO will step in

Here are some headlines from Davutoğlu’s speech:

No one can expect Turkey to take upon itself the refugee crisis by thinking ‘Turkey accepts Syrian refugees anyway and take all upon itself’. We see all sorts of human trafficking equal to terrorism as a crime against humanity.

There is NATO Defense Ministers Meeting on Thursday. Turkey and Germany will together suggest NATO to step with respect to all consequences of influx of refugees from Syria and make a joint endeavor for NATO mechanisms such as monitoring, observing   to be used effectively in border and Aegea.

We have reached a consensus on 10 important subjects to act in cooperation. Turkey and Germany will perform collectively on illegal [border] crossings. AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Authority) and German technical aid group will work together in helping the refugees on the border.

Merkel: Preparationw should be made on legal basis

Merkel spoke as follows:

Thousands flee Russian bombardment. Russia had announced that it will cease any sort of attacks against NGOs. When we look at the Turkey-Syria border, we see people there are in fear.

We will provide people in those camps all kinds of help. There will be cooperation amongst security forces. We will battle especially human trafficking. Works will be carried out for return of the refugees. There will be a payment of 3 billion euro. We want it as well to be rapid.

Preparationw should be made on legal basis. We want Syrians to come to Europe by generating capacity as large as possible. It doesn’t mean that we will accept every refugee from Turkey. There are traffickers among them, we want to prevent human trafficking. It is important to be close to homeland for the Syrians. We will tackle this in NATO meeting.

During the talk between Merkel and Davutoğky, 11 refugees in Dikili district of İzmir province and 24 refugees in Edremit Bay have lost their lives as a result of their ships’ sinking.

Merkel is expected to visit President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well. (NV/TK)