An EU commissioner said on Thursday that the management of migratory flows coming from Syria but also Afghanistan and elsewhere has required joint measures that have yielded results in Turkey and Europe, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.
“That is why our close cooperation must and will continue,” EU Commissioner for Migration, Internal Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said at an Ambassadors Conference in Ankara.
Citing the foreign terrorist fighters that travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Avramopoulos noted that because of its geographical proximity, Turkey is the most important country in the region to work with in order to address the problem and neutralize developing threats.
“That is why we insisted on reinforcing our cooperation with Turkey in this area further, proposing the exchange of liaison officers and an international agreement between Europol and Turkey to allow far-reaching information exchanges,” he added.
“Over the past five years as EU commissioner, I experienced first-hand the importance of the EU-Turkey political and diplomatic cooperation, and I have seen the difficulties coming from misconceptions, prejudices,” Avramopoulos said.
Turkey and Europe are inevitably bound to each other by geography, history and shared interests, the commissioner said. “It is important that Turkey remain on a stable path towards Europe.”