EU, Turkey strike key deal to combat illegal migration

BRUSSELS- The EU's Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the deal, which still needs to be officially signed, "reflects our shared interest in a more effective migration and border management."

Under so-called readmission accords with the EU, a country agrees to take back migrants caught after slipping across its border into Europe's visa-free Schengen area.

A surge in illegal migration across Turkey's porous border with Greece has been of particular concern lately throughout the 26-nation Schengen area.

Ankara however had refused to sign the readmission deal with the EU failing progress on a visa accord for its citizens. But it will take some time before the looser visa requirements are extended to all Turkish citizens.

Meanwhile, Ankara will be asked "to cooperate with all the states of the EU, including Cyprus, to better monitor their borders with the EU, to re-examine their visa policies with non-European countries, as well as to sign the re-entry accord concluded with the EU", said a negotiator who asked not to be identified.