Turkey is accused of sending 'seriously sick' Syrian migrants to Greece while 'cherry-picking' doctors and engineers for its own workforce

Around three million Syrian refugees are currently living in Turkey

Turkey has been accused of sending 'serious medical cases' to Greece

Ankara is also said to have excluded doctors and engineers from EU deal

A Turkish official told the Telegraph they had the right to 'choose'

Under a deal with the EU, Turkey is supposed to stop the flow of migrants

By CHRIS SUMMERS FOR MAINOLINE PUBLISHED: 02:56 EST, 24 May 2016 | UPDATED: 10:44 EST, 24 May 2016

Turkey has been accused of cherry-picking the most qualified of Syrian refugees while sending on to Europe thousands of sick and uneducated migrants.

At an internal European Union meeting in Brussels last week a Luxembourg government official claimed Turkey was sending 'serious medical cases' to Greece.

Turkey is currently home to around three million refugees from the civil war in Syria, many of them housed in squalid camps along the border.



Volunteers walk on a pile of lifejackets left behind by refugees and migrants who arrived to the Greek island of
Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey last year

Many are desperate to travel across the Aegean Sea to Greece or across the border to Bulgaria, where they can gain access to the EU.

Under a deal agreed in March, the EU will resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey in exchange for each Syrian deported from Greece.

But Turkey has been accused of sending ill and unskilled Syrian refugees on to Europe while blocking the exit applications of skilled professionals.



Migrants throw rocks toward the Greek police during a scuffle at the Macedonian border, in Idomeni earlier
this week. The status of around 8,500 asylum-seekers in Greece has yet to be decided


Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, prior
to their meeting at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul this week


The UN refugee agency usually decides on eligibility for resettlement but Turks have reportedly excluded Syrian doctors, engineers and academics from the scheme.

A Turkish government official told the Daily Telegraph they had the 'right' to choose who stays in Turkey.

Around 400 asylum-seekers have been returned to Turkey and 177 refugees resettled in Europe, but the status of 8,500 asylum-seekers in Greece has yet to be decided.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is on the defensive over the March deal, under which Turkey is supposed to get visa-free travel and six billion euros (£4.64billion) in aid in return for stopping the flow of Syrian migrants.

She told Turkey's president this week that Ankara must fulfill all the EU's conditions before securing visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

One of the sticking points is Turkey's human rights record and its draconian anti-terrorism laws, which have been used to target journalists and political dissidents.

The EU planned to introduce visa-free entry for Turks on June 30 but although Turkey has fulfilled most of the 72 conditions Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to budge on the terrorism laws.

Erdogan has accused the EU of supporting Kurdish rebels, who are at war with the Turkish state, and has warned the migrant deal could collapse.

Turkey is accused of sending 'seriously sick' Syrian migrants to Greece while 'cherry-picking' doctors and engineers for its own workforce