Erdogan wants more cash or he will open the floodgates on the EU.
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Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday threatened to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to European Union (EU) member states, as NATO agreed to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea to ease the migrant crisis.
In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan stepped up his denunciations of Western policy in the refugee crisis, confirming he had threatened EU leaders at a summit meeting in November that Turkey could say "goodbye" to the refugees.
But in a separate move, NATO agreed to send a naval group "without delay" to the Aegean to crack down on the people smugglers who have helped hundreds of thousands of migrants cross to EU territory in the last year.
Alarm is growing in EU capitals that thousands of migrants are still crossing the Aegean daily from Turkey after over a million made the perilous journey last year.
But Turkey, already home to some three million refugees, is also under EU and UN pressure to take in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing regime advances in the Aleppo region.
Erdogan sought to turn the tables on the EU by saying Turkey had every right to turf the refugees out of the country if it so wished.
"We do not have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads. We will be patient but we will do what we have to. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing," Erdogan said.
Greek website euro2day.gr had earlier this week reported that at the G20 summit in Antalya in November Erdogan had angrily threatened to EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker that Turkey could send the refugees to Europe.
The website had quoted Erdogan as telling Juncker: "We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and put the refugees on buses."
"I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them (the Europeans): 'Sorry, we will open the doors and say 'goodbye' to the migrants'," Erdogan said in his speech Thursday.
- 'Shame on you!' -
He also lashed out at UN calls on Turkey to take in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees from Aleppo region massed on the border with Turkey, saying the United Nations has spent less than half a billion dollars in the crisis.
"Shame on you! Shame on you!" said Erdogan, saying the UN should be telling states to take in refugees from Turkey.
Turkey is already hosting 2.5 million refugees from Syria's civil war and hundreds of thousands from Iraq and is increasingly bitter it has been left to shoulder the burden.
Erdogan said Turkey had already spent some nine billion dollars on hosting the refugees since Syria's almost half decade civil war began.
The EU has agreed to give Turkey three billion euros in financial aid for the refugees but the funds have yet to be handed to Turkey, two-and-a-half months after they were agreed.
"The three billion euros is not in our budget, where has it gone?" asked Erdogan. "It's for refugees!"
I understood the article that he wants the cash he was promised 3 months ago, not additional money. Since Turkey took a lot of the refugees I think he has a point. Even if he is a dick.
I'd have a lot more sympathy for him if he would have held up his end of the bargain. He has not even started to, so he should not be entitled to the money.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
It is my understanding that he is the one with a proverbial knife to your throat and not the other way around.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
Purple wrote:It is my understanding that he is the one with a proverbial knife to your throat and not the other way around.
Whatever gave you that mistaken impression?
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Purple wrote:It is my understanding that he is the one with a proverbial knife to your throat and not the other way around.
Whatever gave you that mistaken impression?
The idea that he can unleash a newer ending tide of migrants upon Europe where as the worst the EU can do to him is to not give him the money.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
Does Turkey still want to join the EU? Because if the answer is yes, then the EU likely also holds a knife to Erdogan's throat. Failure to help out with the refugee crisis would certainly not endear Turkey to the EU.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
The EU has a number of means of fucking Turkey over economically if need be. Erdogan just burned all his relations toward Russia with the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet, so he can expect no help there. Turkey still wants open borders with EU, possibly membership and other stuff and all of that can be scrapped if he just lets all the migrants through.
Warwolf Urban Combat Specialist
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
Edi wrote:The EU has a number of means of fucking Turkey over economically if need be. Erdogan just burned all his relations toward Russia with the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet, so he can expect no help there. Turkey still wants open borders with EU, possibly membership and other stuff and all of that can be scrapped if he just lets all the migrants through.
Actually they don't want membership. And they will not get it, too, especially now.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
mr friendly guy wrote:Does Turkey still want to join the EU? Because if the answer is yes, then the EU likely also holds a knife to Erdogan's throat. Failure to help out with the refugee crisis would certainly not endear Turkey to the EU.
I thought Turkey was in the same boat as the Balkans nations in that their joining date is permanently stuck at this time next decade.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
Turkey is in a worse position. Many prominent politicians in the EU vowed to keep it out and block ascension. That means it is not welcome. Public opinion in Turkey, as already noted, is against the EU, or at least so say the latest (?) polls:
Domestic support for Turkey’s European Union membership is losing its momentum, as two thirds of Turks say they’ve lost their appetite for the EU bid and believe Ankara should abandon its pursuit of full membership, a recent study has shown.
The survey demonstrated that while one third of those surveyed agreed Turkey should persevere with the goal of becoming an EU member, two-thirds of the public lean closer to the view that Turkey should not become a full member. TNS-Turkey undertook the survey on behalf of the Center for Economy and Foreign Policy Research (EDAM) with the participation of 1,509 people aged 18 and above whom represented a cross-section of the country’s urban and rural populations.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
So basically they've been delayed for so long that the people have finally had enough of the EU stringing them along? Makes sense.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
^ That implies that they were ever ready for EU membership, which they never were.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Thanas wrote:^ That implies that they were ever ready for EU membership, which they never were.
Was Greece? Objectively speaking I mean.
It has become clear to me in the previous days that any attempts at reconciliation and explanation with the community here has failed. I have tried my best. I really have. I pored my heart out trying. But it was all for nothing.
You win. There, I have said it.
Now there is only one thing left to do. Let us see if I can sum up the strength needed to end things once and for all.
Probably not, but they were very successful in cooking the books and lying to everybody.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Thanas wrote:Probably not, but they were very successful in cooking the books and lying to everybody.
They weren't ready for neither the EU/EC membership not the Euro, everyone knew that, and both were granted for political reasons. It did kinda work out with the EU membership, and Greece was getting better. But it didn't work with the Euro membership, because you can't work against failed economics.
Austria says that it is reaching the "maximum" number of migrants and must soon close its borders.
12:59, UK, Friday 12 February 2016
Migrants walk towards the Austrian border after resting in a makeshift camp in the village of Sentilj
Migrants walk towards the Austrian border
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Austria will close its border to migrants in the coming months because numbers are reaching a "maximum", according to reports.
"Most probably in the coming months our maximum number will be reached, so Austria will have to stop the migrants at its border," Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.
Mr Kurz spoke during a visit to the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
He also insisted Macedonia must be ready to completely stop the entry of migrants on its borders.
The comments come as the European Union acknowledged that the crisis was affecting the functioning of borderless travel in Europe.
In particular, the EU nations said in a statement that there are "serious deficiencies" to how Greece is protecting its border.
More than one million migrants have entered the EU since the beginning of 2015.
Most have come through Turkey and into Greece as they make their way up to European nations like Germany and Sweden.
Several nations have imposed temporary border controls to deal with the crisis and many have criticised Athens.
Meanwhile, France has refused to do anything for refugees. He said during the Munich security conference (no english link yet) that it is time for Europe to show refugees that they are not welcome here and that France will not be in favor of refugee quotas.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
On Thursday evening, as our Holyrood government prepared for the next round of its arm-wrestling contest with Westminster over the fiscal framework, an initiative was being unveiled in Glasgow’s west end which seemed to cut to the heart of the debate.
In doing so it provided a synopsis of Scotland’s case for squeezing a better settlement from the UK while also showing how progressive and enlightened thinking on refugees and asylum-seekers could benefit our country.
In an audience numbering around 70 in Glasgow University’s Wolfson Medical School were 30 doctors –mainly from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sri Lanka – who were being offered the chance to fulfil their sacred calling in life at the service of this faraway land that has given them refuge from persecution and war. These medics are the first group to embark on the New Refugee Doctors Project, one of the most important initiatives recently undertaken by civic Scotland.
It’s the result of a collaboration between the BMA and NHS in Scotland and a charitable organisation called the Bridges Programmes, which provides opportunities for refugees and those seeking asylum here to practise their skills and professional expertise in their new host country. I have a very small role as a board member and must thus declare an interest, but I can’t take any credit for developing this idea.
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Earlier this year, we were given a glimpse of what hostility to the very idea of giving refuge to vulnerable and damaged people looks like. No sooner had 15 Syrian refugee families begun to make new lives for themselves on the island of Bute than the standards of reactionary conservatism began to emerge: let’s look after our own poor first, they proclaimed; let them fight their own wars; how do we know we aren’t sheltering terrorists?
At the heart of the discussions in London and Edinburgh over the terms of a negotiated and fair fiscal framework for Scotland has been the common acknowledgement that Scotland’s future revenue – in the light of its projected slower population growth – needs to be protected.
We may only pay 7% of the United Kingdom’s income tax despite forming 8% of the population, but, with a land mass encompassing a third of British soil, public services are far more expensive per capita to deliver.
The influx of refugees and asylum-seekers, many with valuable and highly specialised skills, provides a golden opportunity for Scotland to grow its working population and thus strengthen our economy.
Those 30 doctors sitting in University Avenue last Thursday night hold the key to doing just that.
A typically reactionary measure by a London government drunk on a squalid cocktail of fear, suspicion and division
The UK government’s attitude in respect of Scotland’s management of its economy is that “no detriment” shouldn’t mean “no risk”, yet its refusal last month to give graduates from non-EU countries leave to remain in Scotland for a limited period of time undermines its position.
In effect it is saying: “We know your population growth lags behind the rest of the UK, but don’t even think about addressing it by using the wrong sort of foreigners. If you insist on taking these people in, you must choose from our approved list.”
From 1 April, non-EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for five years or more and who don’t earn at least 35k per annum will be deported (though the earnings threshold will be waived for any “shortage occupations”). It’s a typically short-sighted and reactionary measure by a London government drunk on a squalid cocktail of fear, suspicion and division – and it will hit the NHS all over the UK hard
...
The BMA/Bridges idea contrasts strongly with London’s attitude. It has been a carefully constructed initiative that ensures that the integrity of the medical practice in Scotland remains intact. By granting membership to the new refugee doctors, the BMA is giving them immediate access to training and journals and support for their statutory clinical exams and assessments. As well as support for sitting stringent English language tests, these men and women will have unpaid work placements in local GP practices and mentoring support from practising doctors in Scotland.
The beauty of this template is that it can be modified and moulded for teachers, engineers, scientists and programmers among future and existing refugees and asylum-seekers. All that is required for this skills and revenue boon for Scotland to be sustainable is for the government and our citizens to reach out and make it succeed in the long term with funding and generosity of spirit.
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"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
Sigh. Read the fucking article. This isn't Tory or Whitehall.
"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
Last edited by Edi on 2016-02-15 01:05pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Cleaned up according to original intent
"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Welcome to SDN, where we can't see the forest because walking into trees repeatedly feels good, bro." - Mr Coffee
The refugee crisis is causing me to re-evaluate how much faith I should have in the reporting of either European authorities or media... and at the moment "none" is looking like a reasonable position.
The articles don't contradict each other, they are just not telling the full story. It seems to me the Independent is saying that only three of the suspects are Syrian refugees, whilst News Republic and Der Spiegel are saying most of the suspects are refugees, asylum seekers, and illegal immigrants of other countries of origin. Associated Press gives the breakdown:
The suspects included 30 Moroccan nationals, 27 Algerians, four Iraqis, three Germans, three Syrians, three Tunisians, and one each from Libya, Iran and Montenegro, Bremer said.
Sadly madd0ct0r didn't post the Independent article, because I'm pretty certain they've edited it and the it and that title originally read "Cologne: Only three out of 58 men arrested in connection with mass sex attack on new years eve are asylum seekers".
Actually, the full address still reads most of that.
