BRUSSELS — European Union leaders tussled with Turkey over how to control the flow of asylum-seekers from the Middle East in a diplomatic tug-of-war Monday that left the fate of thousands of refugees seeking a way to safety hanging in the balance. Turkey, home to 2.75 million refugees chiefly from neighboring Syria, surprised EU counterparts by demanding a doubling of funding beyond the $3.3 billion already pledged. For its part, the EU sought to gain stronger commitments from Turkey to take back refugees who have reached European shores and ease a crisis that has left an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 souls encamped in the wintry cold on the Greece-Macedonia border. In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by the Associated Press, the leaders said they were seeking an agreement to return to Turkey any newcomers who could not qualify for legal refugee protection. The draft statement said the EU and Turkey would pursue “comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection.”
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