Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s prime minister. (Source: superajla/flickr)
The E.U.-Turkey migrant deal is showing early promise, but it remains fragile. On Wednesday the E.U. released official statistics on how migrant flows are shaping up: so far, 325 irregular migrants — including two Syrians — have been sent to Turkey from Greece, and 103 Syrian refugees on Turkish soil have been resettled in the E.U. Meanwhile, Greek P.M. Alexis Tsipras told parliament, “A few months ago we had flows of 3,000 to 4,000 daily to our islands … Today, the flows are about 50 to 60 (migrants and refugees) daily.” On the surface it seems like a chaotic situation is finally being brought under control.
But Turkey remains the wild card, since it is not acting out of benevolence alone. In return for taking back all illegal migrants that arrive in Greece (and only resettling legal Syrian refugees into the E.U.) Ankara will get $6.8 million in European aid over the next three years and the possibility that Turkish citizens could travel visa-free to the E.U. as of the end of June…
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