EU, Turkey in talks over refugee resettlement proposals
European Union leaders held talks with Turkey in Brussels on Friday in an effort to reach agreement on the refugee crisis.
The EU has put forward a controversial proposal that would see Turkey offered financial aid and political concessions in return for taking back all migrants travelling to Greece. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is representing his country in the talks.
Initial proposals offered a doubling of financial aid to Turkey promised last year and a renewed effort on talks aimed at Turkey's EU membership and visa-free travel for Turks to Europe's Schengen states.
However, these were subsequently watered down, with the financial aid pledge less attractive that first offered and the visa-free travel now linked to 72 conditions.
In a robust response to the EU offer, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Europe should look at its own record on migrants before telling Turkey what to do.
"At a time when Turkey is hosting three million (migrants), those who are unable to find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of Europe keep these innocents in shameful conditions, must first to look at themselves," he said in a blunt broadcast on Turkish television.
The European plan proposes that for every Syrian refugee sent back, another Syrian would be resettled in the EU directly from refugee camps in Turkey.
"We're on the right track but we're not there yet," French President Francois Hollande said after the first day of talks in Brussels. "I can't guarantee you a happy ending."