BRUSSELS
An expert has called for a fairer distribution of Syrian refugees among EU member states as the 28-nation bloc remains split over a quota plan.
"There is an unfair burden sharing and the contribution of European countries must be more direct. Turkey and European countries must have a more proper collaboration," Oner Akgul, professor of international relations at the Ahi Evran University, said at a news conference in Brussels Friday.
"The EU must open the borders and we must discuss resettlement issues," Akgul said.
Also at the press conference, Orhan Mohammad, a humanitarian aid worker, spoke about the alleged lack of will to stop the war in Syria.
"The [United Nation] Security Council didn’t take any action in this regard because of the veto," Mohammad said, referring to vetoes of China and Russia against resolutions to address the Syrian crisis.
"In the coming future, there will be no stop to the war until we reach [an] international decision," he added.
According to the European Union, nearly 150,000 Syrian refugees have applied for political asylums in the 28-nation bloc since the start of the current conflict in Syria.
France has been one of the most vocal countries in the EU bloc to oppose the quota plan for refugees. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted on Monday that Italy should accept dozens of migrants outside the Franco-Italian border. Cazeneuve told news channel BFMTV: "They shouldn't come back (to France) and they must be taken in by Italy."
Germany, which too opposes the quota plan, said that according to its Interior Ministry's figures, around 40,000 Syrian refugees have arrived since 2011.
The European Commission presented a migration plan on May 13, in which refugees would be spread across the EU under a quota scheme based on the member state’s population size, gross domestic product and unemployment rate.
Under this plan, France and Germany would take in nearly 40 percent of the 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean migrants expected to arrive in Europe over the next two years.
Over three million Syrian refugees have fled to their war-torn country’s immediate neighbors Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Children account for half of all the registered Syrian refugees, according to UN’s Children’s Fund.
