Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, Amnesty International condemned the Turkish authorities for detaining scores of refugees, including people from Iraq and Syria, and pressuring them into returning home in an alleged breach of international law dating back to September. The EU seems to be setting aside many of its concerns about the growing authoritarianism of the Turkish Government and instead promising €3 billion to Turkey, supposedly in aid of refugees, along with a package of political goodies in the naive and misguided belief that doing this will somehow help to solve the refugee crisis.

In its haste, the EU is also ignoring the claims that Turkey has allowed jihadist fighters and arms shipments across its border. Two Turkish journalists have been jailed, supposedly for espionage. Do these issues concern the Government? They are clearly linked to the package.

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