Turkey's Approach of Cherry-Picking Migrants Unlikely to Last Long

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkish approach to keeping well-educated migrants and sending the ill and poor to the European Union under the migration swap deal is unlikely to last for a long time, Wolfgang Gehrcke, member of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee and deputy chairman of the parliamentary group Die Linke told Sputnik Thursday.

Earlier this week, German media reported that Turkey has been cherry-picking the skilled Syrian refugees while sending the sick and illiterate to the European Union.

"Turkey has a very strong interest in keeping well-educated refugees in Turkey, but there would not be a possibility to uphold this strategy because the protests in Europe will continue to rise and there would be mixed solution," Gehrcke said.

This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to suspend the agreement on migration made with the European Union, if the bloc fails to proceed with the visa-free regime. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Turkey to shore up the deal, but expressed deep concerns over Erdogan’s political decisions.

In March, Brussels and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen Area.