EU wants to stop illegal immigration via Turkey

The European Union (EU) is aiming at preventing illegal immigration passage through the land border of Turkey and Greece, with a technical delegation from EU Commission examining the border between Turkey and Greece on Friday.

Stefano Manservisi, the commission’s director-general for home affairs, told local media that he had held talks with both Turkish and Greek officials and a joint study would be carried out in the region in an effort to halt illegal migration.

Nearly 90 percent of illegal immigrants used the Turkish-Greek border to sneak into Europe, Manservisi said on Friday.

The EU is expected to sign a readmission agreement with Turkey in order to tackle the flow of illegal immigration to Europe via Turkey and the EU in return will grant visa flexibility for Turkish citizens traveling to the Schengen zone.

The readmission agreement will regulate procedures and share the burden of illegal immigrants who enter EU via Turkey and are caught in EU member states. The immigrants will be repatriated to their original countries after temporarily staying in Turkey.