EU unlocks first tranche of refugee aid in Turkey

The European Union has begun funding projects to meet the needs of Syrian refugees hosted inside Turkey and activated on March 4, 95 million euros out of the 3 billion euros the EU pledged last year to fund facilities for refugees.

The European Commission said in a statement on March 4 that 55 million euros would be spent to make sure Syrian school children get access to education, while 40 million euros would be spent on humanitarian aid through the World Food Program in collaboration with the Turkish Red Crescent.        

"[The] children of Syrian refugees in Turkey need access to formal education so that they can hope to build a normal life in the future," state-run Anadolu Agency reported Johannes Hahn, European commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy, as saying on March 4 while visiting refugee camps in southeast Turkey.   

"[They] will benefit from additional humanitarian funding through the Facility for Refugees in Turkey," he added. 

The announcement came just days ahead of a Turkey-EU summit set to focus on collaboration over the worst refugee crisis Europe has faced since World War II.        

Under last fall's refugee action plan, the EU pledged 3 billion euros in funding to meet the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey, visa liberalization for Turkish citizens and speeding up the EU candidate country's accession process in exchange for Turkey stemming the flow of Syrian refugees coming in to Europe via Greece.   

On the same day, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was "cautiously optimistic" that Turkey would agree at the EU summit on March 7 to take back non-Syrian refugees. 

"We hope we can reach an agreement with Turkey on taking back economic migrants, the non-Syrian...