Taking Stock of the EU-Turkey Statement in 2024

The EU-Turkey Statement of March 2O16 aimed to end irregular migration from Turkey to the European Union (EU). Since 2O16, the relationship between Turkey and the EU has undergone significant changes. While the EU fulfilled only two of its promises under the Statemen t, Turkey suspended the implementation of the return component of the Statement in 2020 and stopped readmitting third-country nationals from Greece. Meanwhile, recent judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights, such as Akkad v. Turkey and G.B. and others v. Turkey , have shed new light on conditions facing refugees, asylum seeker s, and migrants in Turkey. This article aims to analyse the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement as of 2024 by examining to what extent Turkey and the European Union, as well as its Member States, have fulfilled their pledges and acted in line with the course of action agreed under the Statement. It also aims to investigate to what extent Turke y' s assumed status as a safe third country has changed over the years. Given that the number of irregular passages towards the EU through Turkey has decreased considerably and that the return com- ponent of the Statement is not currently implemente d, we argue that the assessment of whether Turkey is safe should be made with reference to refugee s, asylum seeker s, and migrants contained in Turkey as a result of the EU Turkey Statement arrange- ments not just those returned under the EU-Turkey Statement.