Turkey, EU need more cooperation, Ankara FM says

Turkey will work together with EU High Representative Josep Borrell to continue the positive agenda, Ankara’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday according to the Anadolu Agency.

Cavusoglu met with Borrell in Brussels and discussed bilateral ties, regional issues, and other matters.

“More cooperation is needed on updating [the] Customs Union, visa liberalization, irregular migration, and [the] fight against terrorism,” said Cavusoglu.

On  25-26 March the EU is holding a summit to address the migrant crisis and relations with Turkey.

According to EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, the bloc will seek the renewal of the 2016 migration deal with Turkey, which aimed to stop irregular refugee flows to Europe and improve the conditions of Syrian refugees in Turkey as part of a €6 billion aid package ($7 billion).

READ: EU report on Turkey ‘positive’ but has ‘shortcomings’

Turkey is the largest host country for Syrian refugees and provides protection to some 3.6 million people who fled the war.

Yesterday, Borrell presented a report outlining the bloc’s relations with Turkey during the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting.

The report included positive and negative “agendas”. On the positive side, the report proposes to review the EU’s migration deal with Turkey that will likely include a fresh injection of EU funds.