Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed a call to the European Union to help Afghanistan’s neighbors cope with the Afghan refugee influx, warning against reliving the 2015 Syrian refugee wave.
Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians first crossed into neighboring countries in 2015 and then sought to get into more prosperous European countries. Ankara and Brussels then agreed on the 2016 Turkey-EU statement, a complex and fragile accord under which the EU set up the billion-euro Facility for Refugees in Turkey to help Ankara stop irregular migration to the EU. The deal also included vaguely worded promises to upgrade the Turco-EU customs union, liberalize visas for Turkish citizens and revive the accession negotiations.
