TURKEY appeared to be on the brink of joining the EU last night, giving its 75 million citizens free access to Europe.
By ANIL DAWAR
he daunting prospect of millions of Turks moving to Britain arose after EU leaders tabled a deal in exchange for help stemming the flood of migrants into Europe.
They are offering the huge country £2billion in cash, visa-free travel for its citizens and speeded up membership talks if it clamps down on people trafficking and migration across its borders.
The deal was expected to be signed off by political leaders at a summit in Brussels last night, European Council president Donald Tusk said.
The plan, spearheaded by German chancellor Angela Merkel, will make Muslim-dominated Turkey the EU’s 29th member state.
The deal has provoked anger and prompted fears that Europe’s doors will be left wide open to Islamic extremists.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “This isn’t just a deal to deal with migration across the Mediterranean. What Merkel is proposing is that we fast track Turkey as members of the EU.
“What that will mean is 75 million people who will have freedom of movement to come to the rest of Europe and to this country.”
Speaking to Dermot Murnaghan on Sky News yesterday Mr Farage added: “A recent reputable poll showed that eight per cent of the Turkish population are Islamic State sympathisers. We must be literally mad.”
When Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Brussels yesterday he said: “This summit matters because we need a comprehensive solution to the migrant crisis in Europe and that involves Turkey.”
Chancellor Merkel gave her blunt assessment of the situation saying: “We will agree on the EU Turkey action plan.
“One main part of this EU-Turkey plan will be how we can replace illegal migration by legal migration; how we can improve the situation of refugees within Turkey.”
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called it an “historic day” for his country.
The only barriers to Turkey joining the EU bloc appear to be its human rights record and Cyprus, which refuses to accept its sworn enemy as a fellow member until it recognises the island’s government.
The EU’s refugee crisis has been fuelled by the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing into the bloc from Turkey either by sea or over land borders with Greece and Bulgaria.
Mr Tusk said there were about 1.5 million illegal entries into the EU this year so far.
Many Germans fear their country is being torn apart by Mrs Merkel’s “welcome all” policy which has seen around a million, mainly Muslim men, arrive since the start of the year.
Only 20 percent were said to be Syrian refugees. Most are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and north Africa.
At the heart of the EU’s proposed deal are Turkey’s promises to tighten border controls in return for £2.1billion plus other benefits including speeding up work on its bid to join the EU and a push to help win visa-free access for Turks.
In exchange, Turkey, which has more than two million Syrian refugees, would increase patrols in the Aegean and at land borders, as well as cracking down on people-trafficking gangs.