German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Turkey holding a basket full of gifts and the most precious one was the attempt to link the refugee issue with Turkey’s accession to the European Union showing a great willingness to speed up the procedure.

Ahmet Davutoglu, at a joint news conference with Merkel, reiterated Turkey’s position for the need to create a safe zone in Syria to help prevent the refugee flow.

“We are prepared to work together against illegal migration and against people traffickers who exploit helpless people,” Davutoglu said. However, “cooperation is also needed for a solution in Syria so that migration is stopped at its source,” he added.

Merkel said the two leaders agreed that no country can shoulder the refugee burden alone, stressing “the job has to be shared and that the European Union has a job here.”

She highlighted Germany’s willingness to support EU efforts to make it easier for Turks to get visas, and that it expects a faster implementation of an agreement to take back migrants from third countries in exchange.

She also said Germany was ready to support Turkey on its accession to the European Union.

Merkel met also with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After their meeting, Erdogan said that he had asked for the backing of Merkel, as well as the leaders of France, Britain and Spain, to speed up Turkey’s European Union membership bid.