Turkey plans to issue work permits for Syrians

Ankara is planning to offer Syrian refugees work permits in order to encourage fewer of them to migrate to Europe, Turkish EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r said Jan. 11, amid pressure from the EU to reduce the flow of migrants from Turkey. 

"We are trying to reduce the pressure for illegal migration by giving Syrians in Turkey work permits," the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Bozk?r as saying, speaking at a joint press conference with European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans after Bozk?r hosted Timmermans in the EU Ministry in Ankara.

"The refugee crisis, by nature, is the most important problem of the EU as well as of Turkey. This is even an agony for humanity," Bozk?r said. 

"The number of migrants captured attempting to migrate illegally has exceeded 150,000, reaching the amount of twice that of last year. Turkish authorities capture around 500 migrants daily," he said.

"Illegal migration should be turned into legal migration and human traffickers who create the environment of illegal migration should be arrested. Efforts made by coast guards should be beefed up so that there will be no toddlers washing up on beaches," he added.

Timmermans said during the press conference that the number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to EU member Greece was still "way too high" despite a November deal with Ankara aiming to limit the flow.

"The numbers are still way too high in Greece, between 2,000 and 3,000 people [arrive] every day. We cannot be satisfied at this stage," Timmermans said, making similar statements he made last week in Amsterdam in which he said "we have seen the first results, which are encouraging. But we are a long way from being satisfied."

"I also said to the minister...