MPs repeat Nick Griffin’s warning of Turkish immigration invasion

MPs have said that Turkey’s planned accession to the EU will mean more illegal immigration from both Turkey and its Asian neighbour states, five months after Nick Griffin MEP gave the same warning on British National Party TV.

A report by Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday expressed concerns that Turkey would become a gateway for illegal migration and drug smuggling into the Union, as well as attracting more immigrants from countries ‘such as Afghanistan and Iran’.

It echoes the warning given by Party Chairman Nick Griffin in March, when he said in a British National Party TV interview: ‘If Turkey were brought into the EU, it wouldn’t just be the Turks [immigrating], it would be these additional 40 million – and everywhere their borders run, say to Iran, for instance, there is a porous border between the expanded European Union and the third world proper.

‘It’s not just the Turkish population. There is an almost limitless number of Middle Easterners and Muslims who would pour in through Turkey if the peoples of Europe were daft enough to let the bureaucrats here bring the Turks in.’

Turkey’s accession would extend the EU’s external border up to Iran, Iraq and Syria.

The report, titled ‘Implications for the Justice and Home Affairs area of the accession of Turkey to the European Union’, said the land border between Greece and Turkey constitutes the main loophole for irregular immigration into the EU and added that thousands of migrants are entering the EU through Turkey every month, many aiming to reach the UK.

The Committee is chaired, somewhat ironically, by Asian pro-immigration Labour MP Keith Vaz. He said MPs were worried that people-smuggling from the Middle East would become even easier once Turkey joined the EU.

‘It was clear from our visits to Turkey and Greece that, despite the willingness of the authorities to tackle the problem of illegal migration into the EU through this region, much more needs to be done,’ he said.

‘In particular, we require a collective commitment from Greece, Turkey and the European and international law enforcement agencies to share intelligence and work together to bring down the criminal gangs who are responsible for bringing thousands of migrants into the EU each month.

‘I am concerned that, if action is not taken now, it will become even easier for migrants from countries such as Afghanistan and Iran to enter the EU once Turkey is a member.’

The report also said up to 80 percent of the heroin trafficked from Afghanistan to western and central Europe comes via Turkey and seizures in Turkey of cocaine bound for the EU are increasing.

However, despite the increased criminality in Europe that Turkey’s accession is widely feared to bring, the Committee concluded that ‘the risks posed in relation to organised crime are “considerably outweighed” by the potential benefits—partly in terms of the standards that Turkey will be required to meet to become an EU Member, but largely owing to the opportunities it will bring for increased cooperation.’

It also cautioned that the willingness of the Turkish authorities to tackle illegal immigration and drug trafficking might disappear if they think EU membership is not achievable:

‘The Turkish authorities may lose their incentive to prioritise tackling criminality which affects EU member states to a far greater extent than their own population,’ it said.

The Committee called on the Home Office to carry out an impact assessment of the likely scale of legal migration of Turkey nationals to the UK following EU accession.

It said forecasts for the whole EU had varied widely at between 500,000 and 4.4 million arrivals in the period up until 2030 (current legal migration of Turkish nationals to the EU is already just below 50,000 a year).

Since its membership talks started in 2005, Turkey has opened negotiations in only 13 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete. France and Germany remain opposed to the Muslim nation joining as a full member