Turkey warns of new migration flow if EU fails to keep its promises

ANKARA

Turkey cannot welcome more migrants and a new migration flow could be "inevitable" if the EU does not deliver on its promises, Turkey's parliament speaker said on Sunday.

Mustafa Sentop's remarks came during an interview with Spanish news agency EFE just before he left Turkey for an official three-day visit to Spain.

Regarding suggestions of some European politicians saying a future wave of Afghan refugees should stay in Turkey, Sentop called those suggestions "irresponsible, against reason and justice".

"As long as the EU does not deliver on its promises and take the necessary humanitarian initiatives, the wave of migration cannot be avoided," he said. "Turkey cannot take in more migrants. Everyone has to shoulder their share of responsibility."

He urged the EU to understand that the migration problem "cannot be solved with financial aid alone," and the bloc "should accept a sufficient number of migrants with an integration program."

"But it does not even meet its financial obligations," he criticized.

Turkey already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any country in the world, amid signs that a new wave of Afghan refugees might head towards Turkey and the EU.

Turkey-Spain relations

On relations between Spain and Turkey, Sentop said he believed that the two nations should deepen their bilateral relations as "they have many things in common."

Underlining that the two nations have long-lasting ties, he recalled the first Spanish-Ottoman friendship treaty from 1873 and the creation of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative in 2005.

In trade, the "main objective should be to raise the bilateral trade volume, which was $12,000 million before the pandemic, to 20,000 million."

He suggested that two countries rise cooperation in the army industry with Turkish drones in the future.

Sentop also said Ankara is counting on Madrid in its efforts to join the EU, assuring that "Spanish support is very important in the face of countries that are prejudiced against Turkey."