Under Proposed Plan, E.U. Would Send Migrants Back To Turkey

NPR

Published March 8, 2016 at 12:52 PM EST

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A family sits at the makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the village of Idomeni on March 8, 2016, where thousands of refugees and migrants are stranded. European Unions leaders held a summit with Turkey's prime minister on March 7 in order to back closing the Balkans migrant route and urge Ankara to accept deportations of large numbers of economic migrants from overstretched Greece. More than one million refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015 -- the majority fleeing the war in Syria -- with nearly 4,000 dying while crossing the Mediterranean. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

The European Union and Turkey say they’ve agreed to the general framework of a “bold” plan to address the migrant and refugee crisis. At the center of the plan, Europe would send migrants who reach its shores illegally back to Turkey. In exchange, the E.U. would promise to take in one refugee from a camp in Turkey for every migrant it sends back.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with the BBC’s Selin Girit in Istanbul about the other details of the plan, as laid out so far, and how it’s being received in Turkey.

Note: This BBC interview can be heard in the Here & Now podcast or with the WBUR app.

Guest

Selin Girit, BBC journalist based in Istanbul. She tweets @selingirit.

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Under Proposed Plan, E.U. Would Send Migrants Back To Turkey

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