turkey is a nato member. it has tried to join europe, it was rebuffed, europe didn't want a muslim member of eu, turkey sort of decided if we're not going to have our influence in the west we're going to have our influence in the muslim world. that seems to be the way it was going in but now as you deftly pointed out, it's losing its friends there. we need turkey to be a stable power. >> more important, turkey is the 16th economy in the world. and turkey is a secular muslim country. you know a major muslim country. >> or certainly was but that seems to be a little bit in danger as well. >> it continues, you have an election for example, last july, whether where, sorry last june, where president erdogan's party did not get the majority that they need. in order to rule and in order to govern. so they waitfor the 45 days, three were not you know able to put a coalition together. but now the problem is, and which creating a lot of domestic issues in turkey and olot of division in turkey, that president erdogan wa

a free access to turkey. angela merkel was only sable to say that she was oh going to support turkey's attempts to get series have a free access to areas, but she gave no specifics on dates, vague about when all of this might happen. >> clearly all the e.u. leaders have to sign off on any kind of deal, but in return, turkey's role would be to stop the flow of refugees going through turkey and into the e.u. can it actually deliver that? >> it's going to be very difficult for turkey to be able to do that, i think. one of the reasons we've spoken to oh so many syrian refugees leaving turkey to try to make it to europe and all of them want to put down roots. they don't see a future in turkey, because they're not allowed to work. turkey doesn't give work permits to syrian refugees and there's no specific domestic support for that idea. turks have generally been welcoming, but they didn't expect him to be here this long. the economy is now struggling a little bit in turkey and employment has crept up a bit. it's ha

, in andicular them a al nusra isil, turkey's contribution to the military conflict there and turkeys contribution to all of the support for groups fighting against the kurds in syria. the situation we have now, this bombing incident and ankara -- signkara is kind of a indicating turkey has turned into syria. and this is the end result of policy,ish military particularly to the kurds in the kurdish region of syria as we may no turkey's had a very adverse policy trying to prevent the kurds in the northern syria from gaining some kind of political status. and to this end, they've support in all kinds of groups, the radical, islamist groups. they have provided them with ammunition, with weapons, with intelligence, with all kinds of dust with diplomacy. all kinds of networks for step despite the fact that turkey claims that have categorized isil as a terrorist organization, it is very much well known that turkey has been supporting these groups because they were fighting against the kurds. kobani, turkey had very aggressive approach to the kurds. even they said isil was better ,pydthe kur

turkey's rules of engagement apply to all planes. turkey's armed forces are very clearly instructeded. >> diplomatic language but the implication was clear, russian planes could be so the down if they repeat the mistake. the language from nato was turkey is a member of the and was this is an excerpt from the written statement. allies condemn these incursions into and violations of nato air space. allies also known the extreme danger of irresponsible behavior. they call on the russian federation to southeast and desist and explain the violations. nato said russian planes should stop attacking syrian fighters and focus on fighting isil, a criticism of russia's general role in syria, not just the turkish air space incident. moscow doesn't make the same distinctions as the west. while washington and its regional allies have been equipping and training groups they say as more moderate alternatives to isil, russia's leadership just seeing the whole lot as terrorists. moscow says it's prepared to protect it's ally bashar al assad against al

virtually all the refugees come from turkey. they know they will have to work together with turkey. some way or another. german chancellor angela merkel said as much when she came here, and she will be going on sunday to turkey and probably discussed the meat and potatoes of any kind of deal. if the number states in principle agreed to this joint action plan by the european commission. sarah: speaking about working together, what does the u.k.'s position on all this? we know david cameron come that he wants a referendum on the u.k.'s relationship with the eu. where does he come down on this? max: great britain and also the british journalists here kind of live in a different world when it comes to these european councils, because of course for them, the number one topic is the brexit, the referendum in and out for great britain. the news here is that cameron has finally agreed to a written list of what actually he wants to change in the relationship between great britain and the european union. until now, nobody really knew what exactly they want. this will be on the agenda, most li

jeremy: the head of turkey's bar association knew the couple. he's one of the government's most prominent critics. >> the government is their responsibility for not taking enough precautions, for olarizing the society, for being so tolerant towards isis and for interfering serious internal affairs. jeremy: the people of turkey's capital, like the rest of the country, are shocked, angry and divided. they want to know who killed so many people. the main railway station where the bombing happened is working a normal timetable but not a normal life. [crying] this was a few minutes after the attack on saturday. turkey was in crisis before it happened. tense police clashed briefly with angry survivors. national unity is a memory. the prime minister rejects accusations that the government bears any responsibility for the killing. on turkish tv he said the jihadists of islamic state were the prime minister suspects. but the banner at yet another funeral says the murderous state. grief is fused with politics. what happens in turkey matters because of the

german chancellor angela merkel is in turkey to push a plan that offers aid to turkey in exchange for stemming the flow of refugees into europe. she has been holding talks with the turkish prime minister and the president. the proposed eu package includes aid worth $34,000,000,000 plus possible other suiteners such azizier access to travel visas for turks. turkish officials meanwhile say nothing has been agreed yet. >> i have said this in the german parliament. german is ready to open chapter 17 regarding participation in european assembly. turkey is participating in discussions as a european candidate. we will strengthen operation with turkey on this. >> turkey and germany and europe as a whole will need to tackle the refugee part crisis. we have considered this and it is our agreement to work together to prevent matters getting even worse in syria to prevent further influx of refugees from that location. >>> al jazeera's bernard smith joins us live now from istanbul. first of all, bernard, from what we know, what has chancellor merkel actually offered the turks? >> reporter: well, b

-turkey plan that was discussed earlier in the week, there was also the request that turkey introduces greater controls of its boarders on land and on sea, and also that it works much more closely with the european union on repatriating any failed asylum seekers. we're talking about largely economic migrants as opposed to refugees. i think it's important to add early on the french had been very much against the idea of relaxing visa restrictions for turkey, but it seems under the current stresses the european union is under, this is now the only way that they can move significantly forward when it comes to reducing the number of people arriving in the european union. this has drawn a significant issue between countries in the e.u. between those who feel there is a moral obligation to help those people outside of the e.u., and those countries largely eastern and southern europe who feel that perhaps europe's doors should remain a little bit further closed. >> okay. neave barker thank you very much indeed for that. >>> volkswagen has said it will recall 8.5 million cars in europe over th

anger and grief in turkey tonight. the government says islamic state is the main suspect for the weekend suicide bombings that killed at least 97 people in the capital. there are reports security is being stepped up but many say it is too little, too late. just a few weeks until elections and the country is polarized. reporter: thousands attended funeral ceremonies for the thick dems of saturday's attack, but those representing the turkish government or absence. many of the funerals turned into antigovernment protests. these, murderer erdogan. many people here hold the government responsible. the most deadly attack in the country's history. >> why are they carrying out these massacres against revolutionaries, socialist, and those who are in favor of these? widely do we never have a politician or member of government suffering from these attacks and why don't they take responsibility? this clearly shows it. out this massacre. we will hold them accountable or this. the authorities say they think the blasts were carried o

the european union and turkey agreed on a plan to ensure refugees stay in turkey. e.u. leaders will make sure turkey is not used as a transit country, and the issue topped the agenda at a summit in brussels. >> european leaders arrived in brussels facing multiple challenges. the war in syria, conflict in ukraine, and the aftershocks of the saga put the 28 nation block under mounting strain. it's the unrelenting refugee crisis that dominates european politics. more than half a million people, many refugees from syria, arrived in the e.u. this year. a large number travelled to turkey to europe's shores. now, a preliminary agreement with turkey to help reduce the number of people. >> we received a report very early as to the outcome of the negotiations, and we were able to reach an agreement with records to the shape of the joint action plan. >> under the draft plan turkey would receive $3.4 billion in aid in return for clamping down on the numbers of people crossing the territory heading to the european union, and it would be used on tightening security, and on creating g

they got turkey taking the moral high ground. hinting that accelerated steps to succession might be the price. >> for more than four years turkey has been opening doors to people fleeing conflict. providing support at the highest levels. we see more recently e.u. countries coming face to face with asylum seekers from syria. turkey is open to all kinds of communication >>> at the refugee processing center, they give papers to 4,000 people a day, putting them on to buses to croatia where they'll become someone else's problem. >> how long have you been in this queue? >> three days. >> three days. with your family. >> yes, in this street. >> do you think that many more people are waiting to make this journey, the same journey that you are making? >> of course everyone wants top escape from the war there. >> some countries like serbia, macedonia and greece, improved reception, that they can push people quickly up the line. others like hungary are in open revolt. rejecting a settlement plan that is inadequate to cope with the numbers a

turkey is a difficult story to report. in june, they lost their political party, and the kurdish gained unprecedented ground. the politics divided the media. the rift was deeper when south-east. >> media access in the battle front is limited. and in the last two months, numerous critical outlets are charged with spreading terrorist propaganda. >> it's more difficult. journalists have been more or less investigated. some were indicted, and about 10 of them have been sentenced to prison. many journalists independent, free journalists have been fired. the dismissals continue, they lose their jobs and cannot be rehired again. >> i want to show you a couple of newspaper cuttings to respond to the question on whether or not recep tayyip erdogan cracked down media. this is an ultra nationalist paper, look at the subtitle. this dictator account for his activities, then it reads we are calling a dictator a dictator. in a country where media is under pressure, you can't call a dictator a dictator, you can't challenge them in this wa

the other main thing is the eu hopes turkey improves conditions within the refugee camps within turkey itself and they are willing to provide substantial financial aid for that so that people don't move on from turkey into the eu. anchor: how is that going on in turkey? do we have an unspoken threat that if you don't give us money, we will let more refugees go to europe? guest: turkey certainly feels it is in the driving in its deals with the european union. it has become the main transit route heading toward the european union. there are over 2 million syrian refugees in turkey and more could easily cross into europe. he does have the capability to curtail the migration and the act that turkey's eu membership is in the deep freeze. there are concerns and the growing authoritarian tendencies of the president, russell has very little leverage. anchor: what about the topic of eu membership for turkey? is this the trump card? is turkey willing to look away from the violations? guest: i have to admit i was surprised by the rhetoric and the tone we have heard today. jean-claude juncker call

the worst in turkey's history. we saw those spontaneous demonstrations in istanbul and other turkish cities in solidarity with the people who had been killed. a lot of the focus will be on the country's security in the campaign running up to that election. >> thank you. world leaders have condemned the bombings in turkey. president obama said the american people stand in solidarity with the people of turkey and the russian president called the attack an act of terrorism. >> translator: i want to express my deep condolences to the turkish people and turkish president. what happened is an act of terrorism. and surely this is an attempt to destabilize our neighboring and friendly country. all the more so, it was committed in the course of an election campaign. it's an obvious provocation. >> we have a political science professor, he blames the government for what he calls increased lawlessness across turkey. >> what needs to be expressed here is who has political responsibility. and it is clear that the government has

turkey, improve living standards for refugees who have crossed over from the likes of syria into turkey in the search of a better life. the european union want turkey to improve border patrols on the land and on the sea, as well. of course, many thousands of people have made their way into eastern europe by boat, arriving on turkey said eastern shores. the hope is that turkey will join forces with the european union's exterm border agency in making sure that borders tightened across the board. there is also the hope that there will be better cooperation when it comes to repatriating asylum seekers as well. plans are being drown up how individual states will manage it. the eu feels they need turkey on that board to put a full plan into action. we've just seen angela merkel just arrived here at the european council. earlier in the day, she addressed german council. she called for solidarity at this time and called for across the board all 28 nations of the european union to stick together when it comes to deal with this immense challenge. she also drew attacks to the fact that it's now ve

turkey is the key i think to as they see it to resolving many of the issues. >> how would turkey actually physically stop the migrants coming across? >> well, already there is over two million migrants and refugees living in turkey within communities, living in the cities, probably many of them working illegally and there is over 200,000 in camps, in formal refugee camps so all right here many of those are choosing not to go to europe. those going to europe are probably flying from lebanon and carrying on. but the big point is we are particularly worried that the fate of the migrants and refugees, not be held hostage to some political negotiations over visa access for example or over a sum of money. we think the interest of these human beings need to be put first. >> but that is seemingly indeed the case when turkey is being promised more than $3 billion in aid. it is possibly being promised liberalizing visa restrictions as well. >> well the aid is of course welcome to a country like turkey which is spending so much to support the migrants and refugees but what we are concerned about is

any aggression against turkey is an aggression against nato. >> pressure's aggressions over turkey and in syria are a huge concern, to the eu as well. has beendent attracting attention, i security, and making attractions all over brussels. trying to woo turkey and help them with their migrant crisis. point,is a departure something turkey does little to stop. the president says a his country shoulders the biggest burden with two-3 million refugees. he has warned of the more could be coming as the war in syria at scully's -- in syria escalates. >> this was confirmed by the president. another 3imates million potential refugees may come from a well -- from alecto and its neighbors. work morewants to closely with tricky to keep refugees there. proposes one billion euros in humanitarian and other aid to turkey, holding better refugee camps, and co-policing turkey's coastline to stop smugglers. they will re-settle hundreds of thousands more refugees directly to persuade more from reaching the eu. there is no end in site to syria's war, or the arrival of those determined and desperate to escap

what does turkey get out of it? >> well, that press conference is going on at the moment and turkish prime minister is explaining what he hopes he's going to get out of it. he's hoping, as well as that $3.5 billion that you talk about, which will go some considerable way to helping turkey recoup the costs it's had in looking after the syrian refugees, he's hoping that turkey will be granted visa free access to the european union shanka free european zone and at the time turkey will sign a treaty that will allow the european union to send back refugees to turkey, it will be considered a safe place to send refugees back to. it isn't at the moment. turkey's also hoping to have the talks for entering the european union reenergized, restarted. it's 10 years ago now that then turkish prime minister erdogan went there. >> in terms of stopping the massive flow of refugees going through into europe, can turkey actually deliver what the e.u. wants? >> i think at first glance, it looks like it's going to be very difficult. one

turkey has allowed the u.s. to use air bases in turkey to carry out air strikes against isis and the worry would be there could be potential roll back. amidst all the chaos, we have 86 people dead in ankara and that figure could increase. >> what's the expectation of how this will impact turkey's commitment to the fight against isis? for some time, turkey declined to get into the fight with any major substantial way. do you expect the commitment they have shown recently will change? >> i don't think this attack is going to diminish turkey's involvement. potentially, it may force them to be more involved because of the fact that they are on the front line against isis. they have been off in a transit point for people to move across turkey into syria and iraq and link up with isis. mainly, turkey has a lot of responsibility to deal with this problem. they are very much in the target sites of isis themselves. a lot of the propaganda material has put the president on the front cover, which means they see turkey as a

are looking now at turkey. >> identify as new suspects. they believe they are involved in -- they work with the libyan authorities to interview the suspects in tripoli. any person convinced of the attack, who died in 2012. al jazeera journalist is released from an egyptian jail last hospital, brought back to doha headquarters. >> egypt president along with mohammad fahmy, they were originally sentenced to between seven and ten years in prison and spent more than 400 days behind bars. al jazeera journalist whose were sentenced in the their absence were pardons. al jazeera refutes all the charges and continues to demand that the sentences be overturns. call for press freedom around the world. thank you so much but we need to continue i hope one day we will be able to celebrate the freedom of every journalist all over the world. we will continue, we will continue that because we are not only journalists we are advocates of press freedom. >> china is going to be hosting an informal meeting for what is known as the association of south asian na

let's get the view from turkey. is turkey holding a lot of cards here. what will they get out of this, and importantly, perhaps, what does turkey want from europe? >> well, turkey does hold some of the cards, yes, and it wants out of the european union, visa free access to the union for turkish citizens, it want more money to help pay for the syrians it's looking after in turkey, turkey spending $7 billion since the start of the syrian civil war and wants more progress towards turkey assist accession. the talks have been dragging on for 10 years. if agreement is reached. there are practical problems that turkey would face in preventing syrians leaving. turkey does not give syrians the right to work here. syrians wants to put down roots, that's why they head across the agean. turkey's land borders are strong, it is again why peoplear taking to the sea. the only practical way that turkey can stop the flow of refugees is to physically stop them. we are talking thousands of kilometres of coastlines. crease has said they are not prepared to take control of th

these refugees don't want to stay in turkey. they want to come to europe. >> one thing we should not forget is that the refugees are in countries neighboring syria. 4 million refugees are in turkey, jordan, lebanon pick 600,000 people have arrived in europe, refugees but also migrants. the large majority of the refugees are in countries neighboring syria. the reason why, one of the reasons why, they tried to get to europe is that human terry assistance is limited, because of lack of funding -- humanitarian assistance is limited because of lack of funding. they are not able to live in turkey, jordan, or 1100 the majority of them are not able to send their kids to school to have a decent living. that is one of the reasons why they are trying to go to europe. it is very important to help those countries, to assist the refugees, and to help. -- help you military programs, but also to help those countries, to assist in refugees. faculty, thing seven getting worse for the refugees over the course of the last two years. they are living

about a year ago, turkey was doing nothing but making friends, and it turned into a situation where turkey is fighting everybody of course isil, the assad regime, and the kurds, and they're not on good terms with egypt or iran, and he expressed concern about turkey's growing instability. here's what he told me. unfortunately what's happening today in turkey is what's happening in the region. a year ago, it was stable, and today it's not, and it's a fascinating discussion. ali is one of these guys who knows the region well. and turkey is a very very important ally on of the west. so if it's unstable, it's a problem for the world. >> you can watch ali velshi on target at 7:30 p.m. pacific. here on aljazeera america. >>> more refugees were rescued off of the coast of turkey today. they were trying to reach the island of lesbos when the boat sank. thousands of refugees -- three months ago we introduced to a family that was trying to make a new life there, and we caught one them. >> it's a long way from aljazeera's first encounter with the family in the september bustle of budapest train statio

thousands of syrian refugees are arriving each day in lesbos from turkey. the greek island is forced to cope as refugees face unbearable conditions and sometimes violent. >> exalted but exhausted, boatloads of refugees dock in after ans -- lesbos arduous journey aboard the aegean sea. migrant desperate to get to europe, it is a short but narrow crossing from turkey. what should be a 50 or 90 minute ferry ride has turned to tragedy. boardes pay thousands to rubber dinghies and many do not make it. last week, a one-year-old boy died off the coast. there have been stories of incredible survival. on tuesday, a young syrian woman gave birth right here on the island. >> in the last few days, dozens of both arrived. there is no assistance from the greek government on the beaches. it is all done by volunteers, including spanish lifeguards and fallen to your doctors. we do not even have an ambulance on the beach. the woman delivered her baby on the rocks on the beach. >> those who do make it face rents, --condition conditions, abysmal some say. some people sleep on

nato's attempt is to demonstrate to russia that turkey will not be bullied. they don't want these incidents to happen again. my sense from russia is this is very calculated violation of air space. >> how much of a threat then is this, and was it a risk by russia? is it a threat to russian/turkish relations? >> no. i don't think so. you know, here's the thing. unlike a lot of other countries in the middle east, russia has a robust relationship with turkey at many levels, economic, political, cultural and they're involved in security issues in caucuses. it has a lot more depth to it the biggest issue is syria and their policy on syria. i think the turks clearly are very frustrated with russia's interventions. it ruins policy in syria and some from the united states. that being said, i don't think the violation of air space was meant to plunge the relationship even further. hopefully for now they're just playing games. >> russia's intervention in syria has certainly made it even more of a complex crisis situation in that country. i'm wondering whether you think

the focus seems to be on turkey at the moment. european commission president jean-claude juncker, a joint action plan, to entice turkey to do more to look after the two point -- 2.2 million refugees there. -- just this week, seven people died on their way to a greek island. 200 people have died taking the route from turkey degrees. the eu wants to get turkey to sign up in return for money to a number of conditions. first, survey their borders. crackdown on smugglers. also, better conditions for the refugees thereby improving the camps with the funding from the european union. as you can see, the eu is in a massive hurry to get turkey to sign up. therefore, we have seen president recep tayyip erdogan playing hard. progress on the visa liberalization talks, which will now take place in spring 2016, according to european commission president jean-claude juncker. >> what reactions have we seen to some of these concessions you mentioned. ? >> raised eyebrows from a number of countries like france who don't want to see these are liberal

turkey is individually involved in the crisis and is confronting terrorism. anchor: the european commission has promised one billion euros to help lessen the impact of arrivals in turkey, a country that has proved resistant to any deals on the matter. it is always going to be a difficult talk between the turkish leader and european leaders. how did they go? they probably went better than expected. you have to remember last september, the eu pledged one billion euros to come to the help of turkey, but also jordan and lebanon. that is his global budget, if you will, for the three countries who are getting the bulk of the refugees, and turkish president erdogan has said that the budget they were willing to pledge was ridiculous compared to what turkey is spending itself with more than tomb onion refugees on its graph -- more than 2 million refugees on its ground. ony asked them to take 500,000 refugees in compensation for the efforts turkey is supposed to be making, if they are supposed to make an agreement that the europeans are calling mutual trust agreements,

parts of syria, turkey, or iran. second, request monitoring by the international community should there be a referendum and work to ensure that iraq, neighboring state, and the international community are kept fully informed of the process. specialeveloped power-sharing arrangements for -- in thes referendum. and economic issues. our recommendation to the international community include understanding that iraqi kurdistan is moving towards independence. work with the kurdistan regional government and iraq and the neighbors to support the development of a transparent roadmap and timetable for the possible decision by the iraqi kurds to separate from iraq. transparency would enhance stable postindependence relations. we should also provide direct assistance to kurdistan's independent high electoral commission so that the design and conduct of a referendum on independence meet international standards and we should discuss monitors to verify that the referendum is free and fair. secondly, we wanted the need for a stronger

she turns to turkey. indeed, europe is promising turkey a fast track to membership and other goodies which mean turning a blind eye to turkey and whoever is president. someone remains that who seeks asylum doesn't have the right to choose where they get asylum. you may flee from someone who is trying to kill you, but you can't say i would like to go to germany because the benefits are better there. i can understand that, but it is not right. if we say there are parts of afghanistan that we control, you can go there. we have a right to say that. ifwe say that within turkey, you are an opposition journalist you can stay if you like, but if it is an area that is curtis, you can go somewhere else where there is no civil war. let's face it. these people do not need asylum in germany. for the public to continue to support german chancellor angela merkel, they will go along for refuge for those who genuinely needed. german chancellor angela merkel recognizes this. the message has to get out. ,> as judy dempsey m

the reason they leave turkey is because they don't see a future for themselves here turkey doesn't give syrian refugees work perrimits and they are difficult to get places schools. that's why a lot are leaving. the european wants turkey to give work permits to syrian refugees. it wants to increase access to schooling. the problem is that there is no real desire amongst the turkish population to give those work permits to syrians, the economy is slowing down here a bit. it's hard enough for turks to finds jobs as it is. there are national elections in turkey a couple of weeks from now. so politically, it's not something that the turkish government is going to be offering certainly in the short-term. so that's going to be particularly difficult, and then practically, how does turkey stop -- how does turkey patrol thousands of miles of coastline along the aegean? how does it patrol all of that and stop these my grants sa sailing, these refugees sailing over to the greek islands? it's a difficult task for turkey. >>>lies let's bring you breaking news coming out of israel. we are hearing at

condemned this morning's suicide bombings in turkey. people attended a pro-kurdish and pro-opposition peace rally when two bombs went off. 95 were killed, 246 wounded. it happened outside a train station in ankara. this is a third attack against meetings in four months. turkish government officials called it a terror attack. al jazeera has the latest from the turkish capital. >> reporter: calls for peace drowned by the sounds of explosio explosions. this was the moment targetting a peace rally in ankara. this was the scene outside the main train station after. dozens of people were reported to have been killed significantly, the final death toll, however, is still unclear. hundreds of turks had gathered to participate in what was called a peace rally. it was organized by trade unions and other groups calling for a resumption in peace talks between the governments and the armed kurdish separatist group, the p.k.k. the security situation in turkey became volatile in recent months. the peace process between the government and the p.k.k. co

and whether turkey initiatives or turkey's request, turkey's warning to russia would make any sense, turkey and russia have already decided to compartmentalize their relations, which means they wouldn't like to see this affect negatively their cooperation in other fields. they are trying to do it, because whether there are divergences in one area you cannot easily prevent these negative things affect the areas of cooperation. it may even turn to a clash. >> thank you very much indeed for speak with us live from istanbul. >> regional players like saudi arabia say the only solution to the syrian conflict is for president bashar assad to go. >> the only solution to this crisis is a political one, based on the geneva one declaration, to maintain the unity of syria and preserve its state institutions, both civil and military, and to form a transitional council, where bashar assad, or those whose hands have been stained with syrian blood, have no place. >> syria's only agenda during a meeting in paris between the french president and vladimir putin, angela merkle, and others attended to di

a large number have traveled through turkey to europe's shores. but now a preliminary agreement with turkey to help reduce the number of pima tempting to make it to europe. >> translator: we received a report very early this morning that there had been an outcome of the negotiations and we were then able to reach an agreement this evening with regard to the exact shape of the joint action plan. >> reporter: under the draft plan, turkey would receive $3.4 billion in aid in return for clamping down on the numbers of people crossing its territory heading towards the european union. the money would be used on tightening security. but it would also be used on creating greater incentives for people to stay in turkey. greater levels of integration and better living conditions also. but as well as the money, there is also talk of liberalizing visa restriction on his turkish nationals entering the european union, conditions not everyone in the e.u. is prepared to accept. including the french president francois hollande. >> translator: we cannot have a situ

they have said that it's -- turkey which is a specific point here, as turkey has liberalized its visa, for example, many more subsaharan africans who may not necessarily be seeking refugees status but would be attempting to enter europe for economic means have now the possibility and, indeed have had for the past few years to be able to cross quite easily in to turkey with relative ease. and from there, many then go onto try and enter european union territories through those ways, through those methamphetamine you hads by boats and people smugglers, that's another point. they have said certainly places in turkey are also hubs for those people smuggling networks. and what is needed now, they say, is actually for the european union to actually band together and really try to tackle out these specific issues and see thousand howe they can be resolved to try and see who are the genuine refugees and who are trying to enter our found economic means. >> sonya, thank you very much indeed for that. sonya gallegos in yo luxembourg. >>> nato says it's ready to defend turkey if its airspace is vi

let's go to southern turkey. on the topic of president erdogan, he's speaking from a position of strength. those in order shows that turkey is taking the numbers and it is, in its view, doing the right thing. >> ster any, can you hear me? it's kamal. >> absolutely. in a press conference, they said they have 2.5 million refugees,--i can hear you. >> sorry about that. >> can you hear me, kamal? >> yes, i've got you, stef. we just have a very long delay. my apologies for interrupting, you carry on. >> should i go on? >> hosting 2.2 million refugees in compare to 250,000 in europe. and he stressed we've been doing this for over hour years and it's only just starting to feel it. really a message that turkey has been doing everything that it could on its own for an extremely long period of time. of course, the only way to stop this to end the war and highlight what they've used all along is responsible for all of. he said there were three things that needed to be done to solve this. one of them is to train and equip. t

turkey's e.u. affairs minister was on domestic television this morning. suggesting that initial investigations said planning for this attack had come from outside the country. >> i imagine it's very tense right now, and there are going to be parliamentary elections on november the 1st. presumably security will be the focus for political parties. >> yes, security has been a concern in the last couple of months, and we emphasise after saturday's attack, in the june election most of the focus of the campaigning was on the economy, turkish economy has been struggling. unemployment has crept up a little bit. the turkish currency lost a little currency against the dollar. because of an increase in stability after the june 7th election, when there was no overall winner and no one able to form a coalition, the p.k.k. increases attacks, and the government increases crackdown on the p.k.k., in turkey and northern iraq. there has been another suicide bombing a couple of months ago. and this one, yes, security is the main focus of concern, and i imagine in the weeks

kind of news coming out from the region and how the region is impacting turkey turkey is ha real effect. tourism numbers are down and investors are concerned. where are the political risks in turkey? where are the security risks. >> okay. we will leave it there. jonathan friedman, the associate with turkish studies. >>> well, there's less than an hour now before the polls close in the belarus presidential election. the likely result has already been known for sometime, president lukoshenko is expected to win a fifth victory. he's actually been in power for the past 21 years. neiv barker reports. >> as president alexander lukoshenko casts his vote, there was little doubt over the results. despite falling wages and a shrinking economy, lukoshenko has held on to power for more than two decades. belarus, according to washington, europe's last dictatorship. he faces three nominal rivals for the presidency. they are expected to make little impact but lukoshenko says he will be watching closely for any drop in support. >> it will be bad if this time less people than in previous elections vote

they didn't expect to be in turkey for four years and more. turkey didn't expect that, either. they tried to find somewhere where they can put roots down. that's why they head to europe. >> the prime minister said he may need more than the $3.4 billion that the eu. is offering if he accepts the e.u. plan. that hasn't happened yet. what is it that the e.u. is hoping turkey will do? >> well, the e.u. is hoping that turkey will leave them the flow of refugees coming out through turkey, coming from syria into europe. particularly, it wants turkey to strengthen it's borders between the aegean coastal areas and the greek islands on the other side of the water. it's a very, very difficult thing for turkey to practically do that, because you have more than two and a half thousand kilometers of coastline to man for. also, the greeks have already said that they're not going to cooperate and do sort of joint patrols for the turks, because both sides are in dispute over who controls what territorial waters are there anyway, they've been in dispute for that for decades. stopping the syrians

we have a role to play to help turkey but turkey has a role

crossed from turkey into the eu. we know that an agreement has been reached that essentially the eu essentially turkey is going to cooperate with the eu in preventing refugees from making that initial journey and we know the eu is going to transfer some money to ankora perhaps to the tune of $3.4 billion and we don't have a precise figure for that yet, negotiations will continue. you will find more here on al jazeera.com. ♪ two people, one patch of land and permanently contradictory visions of the future. tensions have been rising in jerusalem and israeli occupied areas captured in the 1967 war and still disputed territory. pal palestinians are attacking and promised land?

turkey and iran are on opposing sides. turkey supports sunni-armed groups. iran provides support to maintain bashar al-assad in office. >> do you think we'll see all the powers sitting around one table? >> it's likely that we'll see images showing that the broadening of the group that is the foray to the forum to resolve the syrian quagmire. i think expectations for a breakthrough is low. >> we shouldn't expect to see more than a family photograph, if you call it that. >> the conclusion of iran in this forum to resolve the conflict is perceived by european diplomats in the united states as a breakthrough. turkey has been supportive of iraq's conclusion, but the sides are so far apart the likelihood of any kind looks remote. >> do you take as much risk of the country growing isolated over the conflict. you see it after upsetting the u.s. as it targets kurdish fighters on syrian soil. >> not only is there a differentlies between turkey, iran and russia, but turkey's objectives are document rickly opposed to the united states. the u.s., washington, number one p

turkey's rule of engagement apply to all planes. turkey arm forces are clearly instructed. >> the turkish prime minister has been told by the russians this was a mistake. it's not going to happen again. but we're not hearing anything officially, or i haven't heard anything officially yet from the russian side of what may or may not have happened. >> no, apart from what the turkish have been saying and we heard what the turkish prime minister thought, that is being told to turkish represents and government earlier today by the russians that this is a mistake, that it won't happen again, there has been no official comment other than what the kremlin has said. the russians will take that information back and checking it, verifying it. that's what we've heard so far, though. there have been other comments around the issues like the defense or the foreign minister talking, saying that he would like to see some cooperation between russian and american forces on their bombing campaign on syria, but nothing to do with this incursion into tu

you know, turkey's a tough place. it does support the islamic state, it has for a couple of years now. and, you know, it's -- this violence is coming back to hit them. >> bob, standby as i bring arwa damon in who is in the capital. can we talk -- let's talk about the context this comes in politically. in terms of, you know, the president and the lack of the ability to get those votes they wanted in the kurdish region. and the tension that has been escalating between the kurdish separatists and the rest of turkey and how that plays into all of this. this is a horrific act of violence serving to pull l polarizing the country. you have the turkish prime minister saying it's an attack on the state. and then you have the head of the hdp, the pro-kurdish opposition party. for the first time in their history coming out and directly blaming the state for the violence that took place. and, you know, we're outside of where the autopsies are happening on the bodies of the dead. everyone here in such shock. but people already, yo

would want to attack turkey, turkey is now attacking i.s.i.l. but in what specific way do you think i.s.i.l. is doing it? do you think it's specific as to create an even more divided turkey. >> i.s.i.s. has not claimed responsibility because obviously they realize after the attack the government would blame the kurds and their allies the leftists, and the kurdish block would blame the government. that's exactly what happened. i think that's why they're not claiming responsibility. otherwise, the group is very interested in seeing a turkish kurdish fight in the area which would undermine turkey's responsibility to help the united states and others in the area. and hoping turkey would be distracted in the battle against i.s.i.s. this is the group's strategy odivide turkey both inside the country and in syria. as you know the kurds have been fighting i.s.i.s, of course this attack would now have an opposite effect, perhaps that's why i.s.i.l. miscalculated. it will be very clear in a few days that i.s.i.l. was attacked -- behind this and that the t