The EU increases its aid to Turkey by one billion to welcome Syrian refugees

The head of the European Union (EU), Ursula von der Leyen, announced Tuesday, December 17, aid of one billion euros to Turkey for welcoming Syrian refugees.

Since 2011, when deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on pro-democracy protests sparked a civil war, more than 5.5 million Syrians have fled the country for their lives, according to the UN.

Among the total Syrian refugees, Turkey is home to around 3.3 million, the largest number of any country.

Von der Leyen visited Turkey on Tuesday and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey has become the most important power player in Syria and hopes to extract maximalist concessions from Europe and the West instead of helping them achieve their interests in Syria. Since 2011, Turkey has supported anti-Assad forces in Syria and it has been reported that the surprise offensive that toppled Assad this month only began after Turkey gave the green light.

After ousting Assad, Turkey has already turned its guns on the next target: the Syrian Kurds. By joining forces with its proxies in Syria, such as the Syrian National Army (SNA) militia and the main opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Turkey launched a multi-pronged offensive against the Kurds and seems ready to launch a large-scale offensive. invasion of Syrian territories controlled by the Kurds.

“Turkey has an essential role in regional stability”

Acknowledging Turkey's central role in Syria, Von der Leyen said “Turkey has a vital role to play in stabilizing the region.”

Although Von der Leyen acknowledged Turkey's role and offered aid, she also highlighted the country's ties to Islamists in Syria.

Although Assad was a dictator, he was a secular leader in a region infested with Islamist terrorist groups. HTS, Syria's new de facto leader who has led the offensive against Assad, is an authoritarian Islamist group that was the Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group until 2016. Although HTS and its leaders Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who started as an Islamic State (IS) terrorist and later moved to Al-Qaeda, they claim to have severed ties with terrorist groups, but there are doubts whether they have abandoned reality of their jihadist practices.

Regardless, Jolani and HTS remain Islamist authoritarians and this has shaken several stakeholders, such as Israel, the United States and the Kurds.

Acknowledging the uncertainty of the moment, von der Leyen said that “the collapse of the Assad regime offers new hope for the Syrian people, but it also carries risks.”

Von der Leyen added: “Together we must also remain vigilant against terrorism. The risk of Daesh [Islamic State] the resurgence, particularly in eastern Syria, is real. We cannot let this happen. Turkey's legitimate security concerns must be addressed. At the same time, it is important to allow all Syrians, including all minorities, to be safe. »

In addition to a billion in aid, von der Leyen announced a humanitarian airlift to Syria that will begin delivering aid this week.

Von der Leyen further said the EU would work with HTS and other factions to restore basic services, such as electricity, water and infrastructure, in the war-ravaged country.

On the other hand, Turkey has been pushing to accelerate its EU membership, which has been essentially on hold since 2018 due to continued democratic backsliding and repression in Turkey under Erdogan's autocratic rule.

Stating that Turkey's cooperation in Syria is conditional, Erdogan said alongside Von der Leyen: “It is more necessary than ever to establish stronger and more institutional relations between Turkey and the EU. We can advance our cooperation with a win-win formula.