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EU, Turkey reach deal to return asylum seekers: Sources

18 March 2016

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"EU and Turkish officials have agreed a deal that will see hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers returned to Turkey in exchange for accelerated accession to the EU after hours of crunch talks in Brussels on Friday.

Asylum seekers will begin being forcibly returned from Europe to Turkey from 20 March if EU member states agree to the terms of the deal, a spokesperson for European Council chief Donald Tusk told Sky News.

The deal has so far only been agreed by Tusk and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, an EU source told Danish journalist Per Thiemann, and must now be put to the union's 28 member states.

The precise terms of the deal have not yet been made public."

See the article: EU, Turkey reach deal to return asylum seekers: Sources (Middle East Eye, link)

And: EU strikes deal with Turkey to send back refugees (The Guardian, link): "The EU has struck a deal with Turkey that would mean all refugees and migrants arriving in Europe from Sunday being sent back across the Aegean Sea.

The European council president, Donald Tusk, cleared key sticking points with the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, during talks on Friday morning. “The Turkey agreement has been approved,” Finland’s prime minister, Juha Sipila, said on Twitter."

Background and more on the situation fo refugees in Europe: Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe (18.3.16)

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