‘Good basis’ exists for Turkey migrant deal: UK

LONDON

A “good basis” for a deal with Turkey on migrants has emerged ahead of this week’s summit of European Union leaders, according to the U.K. Prime Minister’s office.

A spokesperson for David Cameron said an agreement between Turkey and the EU could “break the business model” of people smuggling across the Aegean Sea.

Turkey agreed last week to accept back migrants taking the perilous sea route to Greece in exchange for six billion euros ($6.6 billion) to care for refugees on its soil, as well as visa-free travel for its nationals within four months and swifter EU accession talks.

The comments from Cameron’s office came after he made a condolence call to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu following Sunday night’s Ankara bombing.

Cameron’s spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister offered Turkey support, including sharing any information on the incident. Prime Minister Davutoglu welcomed this and said that the Turkish government had already been in touch with our embassy.

“They also briefly discussed last week’s EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, and agreed that the principles set out then provided a good basis for an agreement at the European Council later this week which, if implemented, could break the business model of the people smugglers and dissuade migrants from making the dangerous journey across the Aegean.”