EU gives Turkiye $232m for border control

The European Commission yesterday said it would allocate a total of €220 million ($232 million) to support border control along Turkiye’s eastern border.

The commission said in statement that the fund was “bringing to €1.235 billion [$1.31 billion] the total EU assistance adopted in 2022 to continue support to refugees in Turkiye -basic needs, assistance for the most vulnerable and socio-economic support- and for border management.”

“This assistance package demonstrates that the EU continues to deliver on its commitment to cooperate with Türkiye host refugees and address illegal migration flows,” the EU’s Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, told the media.

Varhelyi stressed that the EU was “looking forward to continuing this important work with Turkiye in line with the March 2016 Statement, including increased efforts to stop irregular migration flows, increase the number of resettlements, and resume returns from the Greek islands.”

Praising the support provided by Ankara to refugees, he pointed out that Turkiye had been hosting the “largest refugee community in the world, around 4 million refugees since 2015.”

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