The 2016 EU-Turkey Migration Deal: The Perceptions of European and Turkish Stakeholders

The onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011 forced millions of people to flee to neighboring states and Europe. Consequently, Turkey and the European Union faced the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Five years have passed since the EU-Turkey Migration Statement was agreed on March 18, 2016. The Statement attempted to synchronously stop the irregular flow of migration and human suffering in the Aegean Sea. It has been observed to represent an example of the EU’s externalization politics. For Turkey, it has been both a means of eliciting support for refugees and a tool for political rapprochement with the EU. Dissatisfaction over the EU’s failure to deliver some of the deal’s provisions along with President Erdogan’s longstanding threat to open the borders, have prompted tentative talks on the future of the agreement.

The report entitled “The Syrian Crisis, 18 March 2016 Turkey EU-Deal and Next Future: The Perceptions of European and Turkish Stakeholders” explores the problems experienced, the opportunities for a new framework, how the agreement could affect EU-Turkey relations, and recommendations for a sustainable EU-Turkey  migration cooperation.

If you have any questions, please contact Annika Vollmer at [email protected].

The Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin is funded by Stiftung Mercator and the Federal Foreign Office. CATS is the curator of CATS Network, an international network of think tanks and research institutions working on Turkey. This event is organized as part of the project “Perceptions of European and Turkish decision-makers of the Syrian crisis“ which is a project of CATS Network.

This online event is part of a series of events and analyses organized as part of the GMF-TOBB Fellowship on Turkey, Europe, and Global Issues launched by GMF in partnership with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) in 2017.