Hungary calls on EU to support Turkiye in fighting irregular migration

BUDAPEST, Hungary

Hungary's foreign minister on Monday called on the EU to support Turkiye in its fight against irregular migration.

“The EU must aid Turkiye to help as many Syrian migrants as possible return to their homeland. If Turkiye is hit by further migrant waves, it will be harder to maintain the 2016 agreement,” Peter Szijjarto told a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, referring to a March 2016 migrant deal between Turkiye and the EU.

Szijjarto warned that the EU would lose all weight in the region unless the bloc radically changes its “failed” policy in Africa and the Middle East.

The EU must also strive to allow the return of Syrian and Libyan migrants to their homelands, stop migration from those countries, and stem migrants’ transit through them, he said.

Brussels should also launch security, economic, and healthcare development projects in the Middle East and Africa rather than “inspiring further waves of migration," Szijjarto added.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara.