(Reuters): Germany open to including Turkey on EU list of 'safe countries': official

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is willing to support an EU proposal to put Turkey on a list of "safe countries" whose citizens have little chance of being granted asylum in Europe, a senior official in Berlin told Reuters on Wednesday.

European leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss strategies for dealing with tide of refugees trying to enter Europe. The agenda includes increasing cooperation with Turkey and other countries bordering Syria to try to keep millions of refugees in the region.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to visit Turkey on Sunday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"I could imagine that in a broader context it would make sense to put Turkey on the list of safe countries," a senior German government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, apparently signaling a reversal of opinion in Berlin.

Germany has previously been skeptical of the proposal, mainly because of Ankara's human rights record and its treatment of the Kurdish minority.

In past decades, many Turkish Kurds have been granted asylum in Germany and elsewhere in the EU. Ankara has asked to be put on the "safe country" list.

Germany does not expect a decision on the matter at the EU summit in Brussels, the official added. He said the issue might be raised during Merkel's talks with Erdogan and Davutoglu.

As a bitterly-divided EU struggles to cope with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, securing cooperation of non-member Turkey is seen as increasingly central to managing the problem.

Last month EU ministers agreed to finalize soon a list of "safe countries" whose citizens would not normally be entitled to asylum. But the EU presidency said Turkey would not be classified as "safe" for now due to its current military action against Kurdish militants.

Merkel's government wants to speed up asylum and extradition procedures for migrants from southeast Europe, in order to focus on war refugees from states such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It wants to widen the list of countries deemed safe to include Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro. Among those already in the category are Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Andrew Roche)