Erdogan Wins Big – Great News for Merkel
Turkey prepared well for Merkel’s visit. In return of agreeing on a common EU–Turkey Joint Action Plan on migrants, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu requested four points: the opening of negotiation chapters with the EU, visa liberalization for Turks traveling to the EU, 3 billion euro to deal with the refugees, and the invitation of Turkish leaders to EU summits.
These four points are Turkish frustrations dating back to more than 10 years. In April 2004, the United Nations organized a referendum on the Kofi Annan plan to solve the Cyprus dispute, Turkey’s decades-long occupation and partition of the island. Turkey convinced the Turkish Cypriots to vote in favour. The Greek Cypriots, however, voted against the plan. Nevertheless, the Greek part of Cyprus became a member of the EU in May 2004. In the years to come, it would do everything to block the process of Turkish membership.