Turkey to E.U.: We can't be a 'concentration camp' for migrants

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
(Image credit: ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Europe cannot ask Turkey to solve the continent's migrant crisis by housing them all, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday. European leaders have been in talks with Turkey about the nation taking in more migrants to stem the flow in exchange for money and a faster track to European Union membership. The continent is struggling to deal with its biggest wave of migrants — many of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq — since World War II.

The E.U. has offered Turkey 3 billion euros (about $3.4 billion), but Turkish officials have said that money was already set aside for the nation as a candidate for membership and are asking for a separate contribution, Reuters reports.

"We can't accept this idea that 'we've given this to Turkey, and Turkey is satisfied, so all migrants should stay in Turkey,'" Davutoglu said. "Nobody should expect Turkey to become a country housing all migrants, like a concentration camp."

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The Balkans have seen the latest bottleneck of migrants trying to head west since Hungary closed its border with Croatia on Saturday.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.