Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. On 29 November, the Taoiseach attended an EU Heads of State or Government meeting with Turkey at which it was agreed to activate the EU-Turkey joint action plan, which is aimed at managing the current refugee and migrant crisis, as well as several further shared commitments and actions. The joint action plan contains short and medium-term measures to be undertaken by the EU and Turkey. These will assist Turkey in providing for the refugees in its territory and preventing uncontrolled migratory flows from Turkey to the EU. As part of this, the EU has agreed to provide a financial package worth an additional €3 billion, with the establishment of a refugee facility for Turkey to co-ordinate and streamline actions financed by this package. The overall aim of the plan is to ensure that refugees in Turkey are properly supported. This should prevent desperate people from undertaking perilous journeys or falling into the hands of unscrupulous traffickers and people smugglers.

Ireland strongly supports the recently intensified engagement between the EU and Turkey, including the outcome of the meeting of 29 November. In particular, I welcome the agreement to implement the EU-Turkey joint action plan. The relationship with Turkey has been the subject of many high-level meetings and will be further discussed at the European Council in Brussels today. Most recently, the Turkish foreign Minister, Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, participated in a working lunch with EU foreign Ministers, which I attended, at the Foreign Affairs Council last Monday.

The EU's relationship with Turkey is of key importance, not only in terms of the current migration crisis, but also in the context of Turkey's status as an EU accession candidate. With Turkey now host to well over 2 million Syrian refugees, Ireland is of the view that EU support is necessary. In this context, EU financial assistance will go towards the provision of support to Syrians under temporary protection and to their host communities.

The internal situation in Turkey remains a matter of serious concern, a point that was made clear in the European Commission's latest enlargement progress report. Turkey faces many internal and external challenges, as the Deputy will be aware. The murder on 28 November of the Kurdish human rights lawyer, Mr. Tahir Elçi, as well as those of two policemen killed nearby, is another tragic and worrying development in that regard. As a human rights lawyer, Mr. Elçi was critical of human rights abuses on all sides of the conflict. I strongly condemn Mr. Elçi's killing and offer my sincere condolences to his family and friends. I understand that the Turkish authorities are committed to accelerating the investigation into his murder. It is important that this happen at the earliest opportunity.

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