In an attempt to avoid dealing with Syrian refugees, the EU tries to make Turkey to "do the dirty job" of keeping the refugees out of Europe.
In November 2015, the European Commission set up a 3 billion euro (more than $3.2 billion) fund for Turkey to help it boost border security and accommodate some 2.2 billion Syrian refugees.
By doing this, the EU risks giving Ankara too much power, the Austrian Foreign Minister explained.
"When the EU delegates Ankara a responsibility to ensure EU's common borders, there is a significant dependency [from Turkey], which I believe is very dangerous," Kurz told the German newspaper in an interview.
Some EU politicians, including Kurz, fear that it'd be hard to control the border area between Turkey and Syria without the use of violence. The EU cannot simply delegate the "dirty work" of the border control to Turkey while remaining "innocent" themselves.
Turkey remains the main destination for refugees from the Middle East and Central Asia. According to the International Organization of Migration, more than a million refugees entered the EU in 2015. About 34,000 refugees made their way to Europe over land via Turkey.
Currently, Turkey hosts over 2.2 million Syrian asylum seekers as well as around 230,000 desperate migrants from other countries.
In addition to the financial benefits the EU gave to Turkey, Ankara also received political concessions, including the promise of a visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in Europe and the renewing of talks on Turkey's accession to the EU.
