site.btaTurkey Admits to Problem with Return of Migrants from Bulgaria

Turkey Admits to Problem with Return of Migrants from Bulgaria

Brussels, June 23 (BTA) - The Turkish Ambassador to the EU, Selim Yenel, admitted that there is a problem with the return of migrants who have entered Bulgaria from Turkey illegally, but he noted that efforts are being made to address the issue. Yenel was responding to a question raised by Iliana Iotova, a Bulgarian member of the European Parliament (EP) who is Vice-Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the EP and heads the delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists to the EU legislature, Iotova's press office reported on Thursday.

The Bulgarian politician had asked why Ankara was failing to implement its bilateral protocol with Sofia on the return of migrants in the context of the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement.

According to Ambassador Yenel, the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement has been ratified, but it is not fully functioning. It was adopted by Brussels and Ankara in 2014 and was originally intended to become effective in 2017 in the part concerning third-country nationals. However, at the EU-Turkey Summit in Brussels in November 2015, the sides agreed that the supplementary provision on the readmission of third-country nationals would become effective as early as on June 1, 2016.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the EU-Turkey Agreement on behalf of Turkey on May 18, 2016 and it was promulgated two days later. It is now pending approval by the Council of Ministers in Ankara, which will consider the matter urgently so that the supplementary provisions about third-country nationals enter into force and it becomes possible to carry out effective readmission of migrants, Iotova's press office said. /VI/VE

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