Foreign and European Affairs Minister and Minister of Immigration and Asylum of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn paid a visit to Turkey on 18 September 2015.

Foreign Ministers of Luxembourg and Turkey first held a tete-a-tete meeting and then co-chaired an inter-delegation meeting. During the inter-delegation meeting, bilateral relations, Turkey-EU relations, the problem of irregular migration, regional and international issues including Syria and Iraq were discussed in depth.

Speaking at the joint press conference held after the meeeting, Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu reminded that Luxembourg currently held the EU presidency and said that issues related to illegal migration and migrants, which ranked high on EU's agenda were discussed during the meetings. Stressing that Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu asserted that when Turkey extended an helping hand to refugees it acted upon humanitarian values only and did not expect anything in return. Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu also underlined that Turkey, whether it won acclaim or not, would maintain its support to Syrian refugees

Expressing his pleasure at the assistance EU offered to Turkey, Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu asserted that putting an end to the crisis in Syria was the first step to be taken and that the influx of refugees would not stop until a political solution to the crisis was reached.

Stressing that creating a safe zone would keep Syrian refugees in Syria, Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu said that everyone including the international community and the EU should make the effort to realise the creation of such a zone. Foreign Minister Sinirlioğlu also added that he shared his opinions with his counterpart and saw that they held similar views on most major issues.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Jean Asselborn, Foreign And European Affairs Minister and Minister of Immigration and Asylum expressed his respect for Turkey for hosting two million refugees. Having pointed out that the crisis is a new situation for the EU, Foreign Minister Asselborn stated that a rapid and adequate response could not be given. Asselborn maintained that EU’s response to the crisis must be solidarity rather than extending barbed wire fences across borders.

Foreign Minister Asselborn said that humanitarian aid was not sufficient and efforts should be put in place to end the conflict and to create safe zones. Foreign Minister Asselborn also underlined that the EU was aware of Turkey's humanitarian spending for building refugee camps and that EU member states could not shut their doors to this tragedy.