Turkey and EU reach landmark deal on refugees

Turkey and the EU have reached a draft deal that European leaders hope will stop the flow of refugees to the continent, sources at talks in Brussels told Al Jazeera.

"We're hearing from sources that have been attending the EU meetings that a major breakthrough has been reached," Al Jazeera's Neave Barker reported from the talks in the Belgian capital.

"Turkey has accepted the deal put forward by the EU 28 after three rounds of bilateral and trilateral meetings between the Turkish prime minister and the EU council president."

• Officials told Al Jazeera that the deal, once officially confirmed, would come into force at midnight on Sunday.

"That means that refugees, migrants, asylum seekers who are arriving in Greece, on the islands or the mainland ... will find themselves subject to processing and then, in due course, they will be sent back to Turkey," Barker said.

The Finnish prime minister, Juha Sipila, tweeted that the deal had been approved. The Czech prime minister also used Twitter to annouce that an agreement had been reached. 

The details were now awaiting final approval from Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, EU sources said...
 [aljazeera.com]
18/3/16
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