Turken willen niet meer bij de EU horen (en)

BRUSSELS - Turkey says future visa-free travel will work out well because Turks no longer want to live in the EU.

Its EU affairs minister Egemen Bagis told EUobserver on Friday (22 June) that Turks these days travel to Europe "to spend [money]" in EU shops and hotels.

"In the past, when Turks were asked do you want to live in Europe, 80 percent would say Yes. Now, 85 percent say No. Turkish citizens feel there is more hope in Turkey, better job opportunities," he said.

He noted that in 2010, 27,000 Turks went to live in Germany, but 35,000 German citizens moved to Turkey.

He added that "many" of the 5.5 million Turks who live in the EU are considering going to Turkey to make a better life for themselves and their children.

Bagis spoke after EU countries earlier in the week agreed on plans leading to visa-free travel by 2014 or 2015.

His comments are backed up by economic data, to an extent

While the eurozone i stumbles from crisis to deeper crisis, Turkey's GDP per capita has been galloping upward.

In the Ankara and Istanbul regions, it is already on par with Greece, former Communist EU countries and even parts of Spain and the UK.

Looking over the border, the crisis has degraded Athens - three hotels in the central museum district closed in 2011 after an upsurge in street crime scared off guests.

Turkey is not just Istanbul and Ankara, however - in rural areas, around 10 percent of people live on the equivalent of less than $4.30 a day.

In return for the visa deal, Turkey is to implement a "readmission" pact - extra measures for stopping migrants from as far afield as Pakistan or China sneaking into the EU.

Bagis said Turkey will create a 50,000-man-strong civilian border police, "humane" detention centres and "new fences."

Turkey currently stops 70,000 people a year trying to get into Greece or Bulgaria. The number "could easily double or triple" once the new measures are in place, the minister said.

Bagis noted that 30,000 Syrian refugees are being housed in eight camps in southeast Turkey. But Turkish soldiers and gendarmes are making sure they stay in place and that no weapons get through.

The EU visa deal will also see Turkey sign an "an operational co-operation agreement" with the EU's joint police body, Europol i.

A report by British MPs last year said Turkish-based organised crime groups are an increasing threat to EU security in terms of heroin and cocaine smuggling and human trafficking.

They said lack of intelligence-sharing, such as personal data on suspects, helps the gangs make hay.