Turkey 'not safe for refugees' claim insulting: Cameron

It is insulting to suggest Turkey is not a safe country for Syrian refugees, British Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Cameron was addressing lawmakers in the House of Commons on last week's refugee deal between Turkey and the European Union, replying to a question from opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. 

"I don't think it's right to say Turkey is an unsafe country for Syrian refugees ? In fact I think that's slightly insulting to the Turks who are currently hosting 2.6 million people who have fled Syria," he said. 

"So what is going to happen is those people who don't apply for asylum will be returned to Turkey immediately. Those who do will go through a rapid process but with all the proper procedures in place, and as the agreement says all irregular migrants will be returned to Turkey because it is a safe country for those refugees," Cameron added.   

He later said Turkey deserved praise for hosting millions of people fleeing the Syrian civil war.    
  
Quoting an Amnesty International report that claimed Turkey was not a safe country for refugees, Corbyn had said "any return process predicated on its being so will be flawed, illegal."        

The March 18 agreement will see the opening of a new "chapter," or policy area, in Turkey's accession process in exchange for sending back refugees entering Europe via Greece. In exchange for Turkey taking the illegal migrants, EU members will take the same number of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. 

Turkey will also receive a total of 6 billion euros until the end of 2018 to improve living standards for Syrian refugees in the country. 

Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said March 21 he will be scrutinizing possible breaches of...