World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkish dailies on Friday reported on the EU summit in Brussels that calls for implementing an action plan with Turkey to stop the flow of refugees into Europe.

According to the plan, EU would offer economic aid and humanitarian assistance for refugees hosted in Turkey, which is keen to establish a safe area for refugees to live inside Syria.

Turkey is also seeking easier visa process for its citizens to EU states – a move which European Council President Donald Tusk has said can only be made if Turkey cuts the flow of refugees coming into Europe.

“EU sheltered in Turkey,” was HABERTURK’s headline. According to the newspaper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said before the summit that Turkey was already under a huge burden with its more than two million Syrian refugees and it was not possible to regulate the movement of refugees without working with Turkey.

Reporting on an EU delegation’s visit to Ankara, HABERTURK wrote: “The negotiations [between Turkey and the EU] in Ankara for visa liberalization in return for support [to stop the flow of refugees] ran until 4 a.m., local time [0100 GMT]”.

HURRIYET claimed that the EU decided to open new chapters for Turkey’s EU membership.

Turkey applied for its EU membership in 1987 and accession talks on 35 negotiation chapters began in 2005. But Turkey has since then seen very little progress amid opposition to Turkish membership in some EU countries, including France.

The daily also reported that the EU offered €3 billion to Turkey for dealing with the refugee crisis.

Turkish dailies also covered the European Court of Human Rights that ruled in favor of a Turkish politician who had denied the Armenian “genocide” allegations. “Won a victory at ECHR,” wrote HURRIYET, using the acronym for the European Court of Human Rights.

The leader of the Turkish Patriotic Party, Dogu Perincek, won his legal struggle against a ruling by a Switzerland court after he was found guilty of racial discrimination for describing the Armenian deaths as an “international lie”, the newspaper wrote.

On Thursday, the court decided that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Events in 1915 -- which the Armenian diaspora and government describe as “genocide” -- have severely damaged relations between the neighbors. Turkey strongly rejects the Armenian allegation and says Armenians died in inter-communal fighting and starvation during their relocation in 1915.

“Perincek defeats Switzerland,” was HABERTURK’s headline, while VATAN said: “Victory of freedom of expression”.

In economic news said, DUNYA’s headline was “Tension with Russia strikes shipping [sector]”. Noting Moscow’s air operations in Syria and Turkey-Russia relations in odds because of it, the daily claimed that Russia had stopped giving transit pass documents to Turkish trucks. DUNYA claimed Russia’s new implementation was affecting exports of up to $1.7 billion to four countries such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and Mongolia.

Russia began its air operations in Syria on Sept. 30. The Kremlin claims the airstrikes are aimed at supporting forces of Russia’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad, against ISIL, but NATO has accused Russia of targeting groups opposed to Assad.