Donald,Merkel’s visit to Turkey
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Turkey’s southeastern province Gaziantep near Syriaborder is aimed to shore up a recent EU-Turkey migrants deal, according to experts.
“Germany pinned its hopes of resolving irregular migrant crisis to Turkey’s promise of playing a crucial role of being a gatekeeper,” said Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a professor of international relations at Gazi University.
“She wanted to make sure the deal is running smoothly by making such a high profile visit which was accompanied by the EU leaders as well,” he added.
European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans both joined Merkel during the visit to Nizip 1 refugee camp and child protection center in border province Gaziantep, where nearly 5,000 Syrian refugees, including 1,857 children, were hosted.
Turkish security was beefed up ahead of the visit in Gaziantep, next to Kilis, another Turkish border province that has come under repeated rocket attacks possibly by the Islamic State (IS) from Syria and having killed 15 people so far.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the European leaders later inaugurated a center for families and children in the city.
“By visiting the camp, Merkel tries to send a message that the funds that will be provided to Turkey will go to the specific projects for refugees,” said Seyit Arslan, an expert on Turkey-Germany ties.
“In a way, she is trying to allay concerns in the EU that refugee funds may be misdirected,” he added.
“We wanted to make the EU’s assistance as visible on the ground today,” Davutoglu said in a joint press conference with European leaders in Gaziantep.
Merkel said the assistance would be directed to support for the needs of refugees, especially education.
Turkey and the EU signed an agreement on March 18 that was aimed to cut back on irregular migration and refugee flows to Europe through Turkey.
The agreement was made after some one million people reached European shores last year with the ultimate destination for wealthy European states, mainly Germany and Nordic countries.
Brussels pledged to provide six billion euros until 2018 to help ease burden Turkey shoulders for hosting three million refugees as well as granting visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens as of June.
According to the deal, for every migrant Turkey receives, the EU promised to repatriate one to its member states, with a cap set at 72,000.
The deal seemed to have worked in reducing the number of migrants who cross toGreece through Turkey over sea routes.
The International Organization of Migration said on Friday that arrivals to Greece by sea had dropped to an average of 100 per day in the past two weeks.
However, it said the unofficial data for arrivals in Greece in recent days suggested the numbers were picking up again.
“The visit was an opportunity for Merkel and EU leaders to make a point that the EU still matters after they proved the migrant deal is working,” said Arslan.
“After managing to contain Greek financial crisis, the EU has showed for the second time it was capable of handling the migrant crisis as well. Therefore the message was that the EU still relevant and remains as a political power center,” he explained.
Timmermans underlined on Saturday that Turkey has complied with the terms of the agreement.
Nevertheless, the implementation of the deal with all the conditions is far from problem-free outlook.
Turkish leaders have repeatedly warned that the recent migrant deal as well as related agreements may be suspended if the EU fails to deliver on its promises.
One of the sticking issues in talks is the release of the first batch of the EU funds, which amounted to three billion euros.
The European Commission said on Wednesday that it only raised 2.6 billion euros from member states so far, failing short of the target figure. Only 77 million euros has been transferred to Turkey so far.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week that the EU is taking it very slow in providing funds it pledged for refugees, and Turkey reserves the right to suspend the agreements.
The Turkish government says it had spent some 10 billion U.S. dollars for the refugees so far but received only 462 million dollars from international donors.
Speaking at the border province Gaziantep in the southeast of Turkey, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, who is in charge of refugee and migrant matters, lamented that Turkey was left alone in dealing with the refugees.
Another contentious issue is whether Brussels would deliver on its commitment to lift visas for Turks by June, provided that Turkey complies with 72 pre-determined benchmarks.
Serkan Demirtas, an Ankara-based expert on EU-Turkey relations, said there are huge discrepancies between Ankara and Brussels on the number of benchmarks Turkey have so far satisfied.
“This debate will surely continue until the European Commission releases its advisory report on May 4 and even after it, as the process requires the ratification of the European Parliament,” he emphasized.
Davutoglu said on Saturday that the visa-free deal is crucial for Turkey as the government promised to deliver Turkish people.
Moreover, Germany’s Merkel is facing intense pressure at home front from her coalition partners as well as public in general for agreeing to visa-free travel for Turks and going soft on Turkey in fundamental rights, especially press freedom issues.
“We are always facing this question whether this EU-Turkey agreement is the right one. I am telling you. It is absolutely right and essential,” Merkel said on Friday ahead of visit to Turkey.
She said she had raised democracy, human rights and press freedom in her conversations with her Turkish counterparts.
Barack Obama visit Germany
US President Barack Obama is set to visit Hanover, Germany today to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of his closest allies. It will be the last stop on a six-day foreign journey where Mr Obama has sought to shore up US alliances he views as key to grow trade, defeat Islamic State militants, and offset Russian aggression in Ukraine and Syria. Mr Obama, who is in the last nine months of his presidential term, spent three days in London where he urged Britons to remain part of the European Union in a June referendum, a vote that could send shockwaves through the economy.
PM Modi urges citizens to conserve every single drop of water
Water is an essential part of our life and to procure water from natural resources are the area of experts who deal with water management.There are government agencies and there are corroborates dealing with the science of extracting ,conserving and supply of water supply in all circumstances.There are water dams, water reservoir,water drilling,water grids,water supply for smaller helmets , these are run by various department from last one decade we find these departments are neither on heels and has forgotten to work on war footing to give immediate relief to the sufferers.However the advertisement for conservation of water is not only solutions but the means are important.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to conserve water to tackle water scarcity and drought situation prevailing in the country. In his 19h edition of monthly Mann Ki Baat programme on All India Radio, he said though government is doing its best to save water, people have a greater role to play. He said all efforts should be made to save a drop of water.
Citing exemplary work done by Hiware Bazar villagers in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, Mr Modi said, they changed the cropping pattern for optimal use of water. He said the villagers are using drip irrigation, water harvesting, water recharging to tackle the water crisis.
Citing exemplary work done by Hiware Bazar villagers in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, Mr Modi said, they changed the cropping pattern for optimal use of water. He said the villagers are using drip irrigation, water harvesting, water recharging to tackle the water crisis.
Calling for making rain water harvesting a movement in villages, the Prime minister said it will be possible only with coordinated efforts. He said when the water table rises, the quality of water also improves.
He complimented railways for prompt action for sending water to Latur. Mr Modi said the prospect of good monsoon has rekindled hope for a good harvest.
He complimented railways for prompt action for sending water to Latur. Mr Modi said the prospect of good monsoon has rekindled hope for a good harvest.
Appealing everyone to be a change agent in cleaning Ganga, Mr Modi mentioned about various steps including surface cleaning being taken by the government to make Ganga clean. He said Ganga gives us bread. He said people are donating generously for cleaning of Ganga
As the nation is celebrating Panchayatiraj divas today, the Prime minister said from 14th April to 24th April, the government successfully ran the campaign of Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday.
Responding to a question on education sector, the prime minister urged all parents to spend time with their wards on the activities happen in the school. He also said focus should be given on learning of children than schooling. He said skill and technology are important and play a major role in education.
Prime minister complimented the one crore LPG consumers who gave voluntarily given up subsidy in gas cylinders.
The Prime Minister said print and television media should carry positive stories to spread an atmosphere of positivity and inspire the nation to do good. He appreciated the fact that some newspapers and channels have started carrying positive stories in certain time slots. Mr Modi, cited the example of former President A P J Abdul Kalam who used to say that newspapers should carry only positive stories in their front pages. He said, focusing on the good will help erase the bad.
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