The fact that the European Union is holding admission talks with Turkey in exchange for assistance in dealing with the migrant crisis is a signal of moral degradation of the bloc, German lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen told in an interview with RT.
In order to receive Turkey’s help with refugees, Brussels ignores the fact that Turkey supports the Daesh (ISIL/Islamic State) terrorist group. What is more, the EU is ready to accelerate Ankara’s accession to the bloc amid claims that Turkey is buying oil from the terrorists.
"I think this is a sign of EU’s moral bankruptcy. The bloc has lost its values. This is why the accession talks cannot be taken seriously. Having shifted responsibility for refugees to such a criminal like Erdogan, the EU has lost its face. First of all, Erdogan is to blame for the refugee crisis," she said.
According to the politician, siding with Erdogan, the EU has betrayed everything that symbolizes European values. However, the terrorist threat in Europe is not linked to the growing number of refugees, Dagdelen underscored.
This is not about refugees, the lawmaker added. According to her, terrorists are unlikely to reach Europe by boats across the Mediterranean Sea, because they can fly there in business class.
Dagdelen stressed that countries supporting Islamists are responsible for the refugee crisis.
"I’ve visited refugee camps in Lebanon. People told me they fled from brutal extremists in Syria and Iraq. There is no reason to think that those people fled from the Syrian government," she said.
Currently, Turkey is responsible for the expulsion of over 2,000 Kurds from its territory. Recently, a boat carrying Kurdish refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea. This proves that Erdogan is waging war on Kurds, the lawmaker said.
"Finally, hundreds of thousands of Kurds will have to leave their country. In order to resolve the refugee crisis we should deal with the roots of the problem," Dagdelen concluded.
Ankara seeks to reach a visa-free regime with the Schengen zone in exchange for assistance in stymieing the influx of asylum seekers to Europe. Nevertheless, European diplomats think this will never happen.
An unnamed high-ranking European official told the Financial Times that "this will end badly and it will have repercussions far beyond the migration deal."
But European politicians are already recoiling, the article read. French President Francois Hollande is watching out for the country’s right flank, and former president Nicolas Sarkozy said he totally opposed the removal of visas for Turks.
Manfred Weber, leader of the center-right European People’s Party bloc, the biggest in the parliament, told FT that there are "large obstacles" to visa liberalization, including issues of Turkey’s status as a "safe country," its data-protection standards, and judicial cooperation.
Brussels insists that Turkey must meet 72 criteria, ranging from technical to sensitive political issues like rewriting terror laws and recognizing the Cypriot government in Nicosia.
"The idea that Turkey will get a freebie on visa liberalization is a joke. This is not as easy as they think," the source told FT.
But if Turkey meets the criteria Brussels would be trapped, Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey, said.
"I don’t see France ever accepting the deal this year when elections are close," he said. "I don’t believe for a minute EU countries want progress on all fronts."
