Turkey, now openly accused by the EU of being involved in migrant trafficking, is backing down for fear of sanctions.
More specifically, the same president of the European Commission, Ursula Gertrud von der Layen, said that the possibility of imposing sanctions on third-country airlines that facilitate the transfer of migrants to Minsk, Poland by photographing Turkish Airlines is being discussed. In this context, Turkey has been active in conveying the message that it will do whatever it takes to stop this flow. In fact, Turkish Airlines has already issued a message to its staff saying that citizens from Syria, Yemen and Iraq wishing to travel to Minsk should not be allowed to travel.
At the same time, the Vice President of the Commission, Margaritis Schoinas, is carrying out a mission in the countries from which the migrants start in order to “block” the flights.
Mr Schoinas traveled to the United Arab Emirates today, where he responded positively to an EU request to drastically reduce the flow of migrants to Minsk, Poland.
His next stop is Lebanon, which has received more than 700m euros in humanitarian aid from the EU over the past 10 years. Then on Monday he will be in Iraq where flights have already been restricted in recent months but Mr. Schoinas will try to persuade the authorities to accept returns of citizens who have not been able to cross into European territory.
At the same time, Mr. Schoinas had planned to travel to Ankara next week. However, if these moves are implemented by Turkey, it will not be necessary.
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