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Turkey would welcome EU aid on migration if it materialises - Simsek


    ANKARA (Reuters) - Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Friday Turkey would welcome a possible 3 billion euros (£2.2 billion) in aid from the European Union to help stem the flow of migrants but said he could not confirm whether the funds would actually be disbursed.

    EU leaders at a summit in Brussels said overnight they had agreed an "action plan" with President Tayyip Erdogan, offering the aid and prospect of easier travel visa for Turks in return for help in handling the flow of refugees from Syria.

    Simsek also said Turkey's security and defence spending would rise to 55 billion lira next year from 47.4 billion in 2015. Turkey is battling both the spillover from Syria's civil war and a Kurdish insurgency in its own southeast.

    (Reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Jonny Hogg)