# The EU and Turkey agree the 18 March 2016 statement on migration

Date: 2016

## The fact

On 18 March 2016 EU leaders and Turkey agreed a statement: irregular arrivals to the Greek islands would be returned; Syrians would be resettled one-for-one; Turkey would receive funds and visa-liberalisation talk. [Erdoğan](/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan)’s government was the Turkish party.

## Context

Turkey already hosted millions of Syrians. The deal mixed humanitarian hosting with a returns mechanism. The European Council wrote the EU side; Ankara implemented coast and camps. He did not vote in that Council.

Accession talks 2005 are a different date. Gezi is a different file.

The president of Turkey is head of state and, since the 2017 executive-presidency reform, head of government. The Grand [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) writes statutes; the Official Gazette records decrees; courts, governors, and the armed forces implement. He does not write a European Council conclusion, an IMF programme, or a UN General Assembly resolution.

## Evidence and sources

European Council carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

Mixed paths on one instrument: hosting a large Syrian stock is a [humanitarian-access](/drivers/humanitarian-access) gain; the returns mechanism is a restrictiveness instrument. Both FDIs sit here. Primary welfare sign used for the gate is improving because the hosting stock is the larger documented humanitarian fact of the statement, with a separate worsening FDI for restrictiveness.

## What is established and what is not

Established: an 18 March 2016 EU–Turkey statement on returns, resettlement, and funds, independently reported.

Not established: that visa liberalisation followed, or a unique later Aegean death coefficient from that night.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The European Council wrote the EU side. Coast guards and camps implemented.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies The EU and Turkey agree the 18 March 2016 statement on migration, not a later speech about The EU and Turkey agree the 18 March 2016 statement on migration.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. The EU and Turkey agree the 18 March 2016 statement on migration on 2016-03-18 is not a licence to treat every later European Council communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average The EU and Turkey agree the 18 March 2016 statement on migration into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to His government was the Turkish party. The European Council wrote the EU side. Coast guards and camps implemented. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. The Grand National Assembly, the Official Gazette, governors, courts, and foreign counterparties share specific files. Allegation is not a completed judgment. A detention is not a conviction.

## People

- Angela Merkel: https://factrail.ai/people/angela-merkel
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: https://factrail.ai/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan

## Drivers

- Migration-policy restrictiveness and border control: https://factrail.ai/drivers/mig-policy-restrictiveness
- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access
- Anti-Immigration Sentiment: https://factrail.ai/drivers/anti-immigration-sentiment
- Mediterranean / Europe migration crisis: https://factrail.ai/drivers/mediterranean-migration

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-idUSKCN0WK0T0
- https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/tr-eu-turkey-statement-2016