Turkish analysts have expressed concern over the government's move to sign a key deal with the European Union (EU) to accept illegal immigrants without strong assurances in advance.

The deal, called readmission agreement, will allow the EU to repatriate the third-country nationals illegally migrating to Europe via Turkey back to Turkey.

In exchange, the EU offers a parallel track of negotiations to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens seeking to travel to Europe.

Given the fact that visa-free travel for Turks is not a foregone conclusion, analysts worry the readmission deal may be very costly for Turkey.

"There is no official link between the readmission agreement and visa-free travel for Turks in any EU document," Kerim Balci, a foreign policy expert in Turkey, said.

He stressed that Turkey has not signed readmission agreements with all source countries that traditionally send illegal immigrants to Europe via Turkey.

"That means immigrants who were sent back to Turkey will stay here until their legal status is sorted out. This is a big legal limbo," Balci noted.

Last week, Turkish and EU officials reached a deal on the terms of the readmission and will sign the agreement on Dec. 16.

Turkey initialed the agreement in 2011 but has been hesitating to sign and ratify it, saying that the EU should start implementing visa facilitation for Turkish citizens with the eventual aim of lifting visa requirements.

On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the financial burden on repatriation of the third country nationals will be shared by both Turkey and the EU.

"In the worst case scenario, Turkey may have to take back several thousands of illegal immigrants but 76 million Turkish citizens will be able to go anywhere in Europe," he said.

Turkish analysts expressed cautious optimism on the deal, saying that readmission agreement must be part of a larger package of incentives to improve the stalled relations between Turkey and the EU.



Beril Dedeoglu, an EU expert at Istanbul-based Galatasaray University, said if Turkey is accepted one day as a member of the EU, the current negotiation process is totally meaningless.

"Signing the readmission agreement is reasonable only if Turkey will one day become an EU member; if not, Turkey will turn into the EU's dumping ground," she explained.

"There may be economic and social costs for accepting illegal immigrants from the EU," Fatma Yilmaz Elmas, an EU expert at Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization warned, adding that "Turkey may be used as a depot for immigrants."

However, Davutoglu insisted all safeguard measures were contemplated when they agreed on the readmission deal with the EU, saying the deal envisages a three year transition period during which Turkey will not accept any immigrants from Europe.

He also underlined that if Turks do not get visa-free travel deal, Ankara may suspend the readmission agreement.

Turkey began negotiations to join the EU in 2005. But a series of political obstacles, notably the Cyprus issue, and resistance to Turkey's membership by key members including France and Germany have slowed down the progress to a snail's pace.