As part of the agreement to close the border, EU provided 1,45 billion EUR to Turkey

Brussels, 12 January 2017 (MIA) - The European Union has paid 1,45 billion EUR to Turkey, for projects that involve helping refugees and migrants. Out of this amount, 748 million EUR were direct payments, the European Commission informed on Thursday.
MIA correspondent from Brussels reports that the information was disclosed following a meeting of the board that manages the implementation of the agreement reached in early 2016, that helped put an end to the Balkan migrant route, which was cut at the Macedonian - Greek border. The Commission informed that it will fund construction of schools for refugees to the tune of 200 million EUR, and will introduce an emergency welfare network.
Due to the wars in the Middle East, Turkey became one of the largest recipients of refugees and it requested EU support to handle the situation. Part of the agreement, in which Turkey agreed to strictly police its border. As part of the agreement, the EU promised to introduce visa free travel for Turkish citizens and to restart the long stalled accession talks, but these elements of the deal were not implemented.