Öykü Altuntaş / Istanbul, March 14 () - The Implementation Report on EU-Turkey regarding the joint action plan seeking to tackle the growing refugee flows into the EU highlighted that number of arrivals have decreased from more than 200 thousand to less than 100 thousand from Oct. 2015 to Jan. 2016, thanks to both sides' commitment.

The European Commission has released on Feb. 10 its implementation report regarding the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan, activated on Nov. 20, 2015.

The report published by monthly magazine of Turkey’s Economic Development Foundation (IKV), also recognized the progress achieved by Turkey’s commitment to the Alignment of Turkish and EU Visa Policy, to “ensure that migrants are properly registered and provided with the appropriate documents on a compulsory basis”.

"Turkey pursued its efforts in further facilitating the access of Syrian nationals in Turkey under temporary protection to public services such as education, health and employment” the report added, highlighting cooperation with neighboring countries Bulgaria and Greece.

The Commission has noted that “Turkey has accelerated its work towards the implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap, including the Turkey-EU Readmission Agreement which is expected to enter into force for third country nationals as of 1 June 2016.”

Accordingly, the Commission’s report commended efforts of Turkey to “prevent irregular departures as well as drafting legislation on personal data protection in order to facilitate further cooperation with Frontex, Europol and Eurojust" and other agencies.

The Commission underlined that the EU has vowed to increase its financial assistance to support Turkey “in meeting the criteria of the Visa Liberalisation roadmap.”

The EU has also vowed to mobilise new sources of funding aimed at helping Turkey cope with the humanitarian crisis for Syrian nationals under temporary protection, the report reiterated.

“The cooperation should be enhanced between the parties in terms of exchange of information in order to effectively combat smuggling networks” urged the Commission according to the report.

“A 3 billion euro facility for refugees has been tabled and adopted and that work has been further undertaken towards the full activation of the Turkey-EU Readmission Agreement regarding third country nationals as of 1 June 2016” the report announced.

According to the report, “a Recommendation for a Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme” with Turkey will be adopted for persons displaced by the conflict in Syria.

A table showed contributions of Member States, with Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain as the largest contributing countries.

(Table)