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On the stick: "elections".
One week before Turkey's legislative elections on 1 November, the role of Ankara in the migrant crisis has been in the spotlight during Angela Merkel's visit to Istanbul on 18 October. The German Chancellor presented Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdoğan with the EU's plan to convince Turkey to welcome refugees – notably from Syria – in its own territory rather than letting them pass into Europe. In exchange, Merkel is offering financial aid, freeing up of visas for Turks and restarting negotiations with Ankara on EU membership.
Elsewhere, Slovenia has become the new gateway to the EU, after Hungary closed its border with Croatia on 16 October. This follows the closing of the border with Serbia. Some 20,000 people crossed Croatia on foot and have been arriving over the past two days in Slovenia, hoping to reach Austria and Germany. The Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar deployed the army to support police officers at the borders and called for EU aid to cope with emergency.
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