Turkey wants €5 bln to stem flow of refugees to Europe

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ankara wants additional 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion at current exchange rates) from the European Union to tackle the migrant crisis, which will almost double the initially agreed sum, Sputnik International reported Saturday, January 30.

On November 29, the European Union and Turkey approved a joint plan to counter the influx of migrants into the bloc, under which EU member states will give some 3 billion euros to Ankara and fast track the negotiations for its accession to the 28-nation bloc.

German Die Welt newspaper reported, citing a high-ranking EU diplomat that Turkey wanted to receive some 5 billion euros from the European Union, despite the fact that Brussels was ready to provide Ankara with the sum that had been agreed before.

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving their crisis-torn countries of origin in North Africa and the Middle East for stable and wealthy EU member states.

Turkey is a key transit route for refugees. According to the UN refugee agency, more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees are temporarily living in Turkey, many of whom seek to travel further to Europe.