EU approves Turkey action plan

Merkel offered "to support a faster visa process" and to speed up negotiations on Turkey's bid to join the European Union, but expects Ankara to act more quickly in readmitting migrants deported from Germany in return, she said after the meeting in Istanbul.

Her discussions with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan come at a time when thousands of new arrivals a day are stretching Germany's capacity to house refugees and other migrants.

Merkel also said on Sunday Germany could accelerate the path to visa-free travel to the European Union for Turks, bringing the process forward to July 2016 - a year earlier than planned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is going to Turkey on Sunday to see if the promises made are feasible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been tipped to win this year's prize for her leadership on the refugee crisis in Europe.

Davutoglu said that Turkey is hosting more than 2 million Syrian refugees at a cost exceeding €7.5 billion. This included giving Turkey more support in caring for the refugees and providing humanitarian aid, as well as helping to secure borders and combat criminal smuggling rings, she said.

Davutoglu also warned that new fighting around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo risks creating "significant new waves of migration".

The belief is that this can't happen unless Turkey agrees to help to solve this problem.

Adding to uncertainties in negotiating any deal with Turkey is the turmoil that followed a bombing Ankara blames on Kurds or Syria-based Islamists, and a snap parliamentary election on November 1 that will determine Mr Erdogan's future power.

For Merkel, nailing down Turkey's commitment to the action plan is important to stemming the refugee flow and relieving the political pressure on her at home.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that the offer was aimed at keeping over two million Syrian refugees in Turkey and prevent them from attempting to cross into Europe.

Merkel's visit took place less than two weeks before a snap election in which Erdogan's Justice and Development Party aims to regain its parliamentary majority, which it lost in June elections.

"It might make sense for Erdogan to give the good news to Turkish citizens that, thanks to his efforts, they can travel to Europe without visas, with the possibility of turning this into votes", columnist Murat Yetkin wrote in the Hurriyet Daily News.

After a decade of membership talks where the European Union had the upper hand, now the European Union needs Turkey's help to ease the refugee crisis. Europe needs Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, to stem the flow of refugees and migrants who are leaving Turkey's shores and heading to Greece and then toward other countries on the Continent.