Diplomatic cables between the Government and the British mission in Ankara also suggest that EU mandarins are trying to keep any visa deal with Turkey secret until after the referendum.
The Government is set to follow in the footsteps of an EU deal with Turkey on visa-free travel within the borderless Schengen zone, according to the documents.
Janet Douglas, the deputy head of mission in the Turkish capital, wrote in the documents: “Visa travel [to the UK] for Turkish special passport holders… would be a risk, but a significant and symbolic gesture to Turkey.”
She also warned that failure to secure an EU visa-free travel deal could lead Ankara to “open the floodgates” to migrants currently held in Turkish refugee camps.
This has led furious critics to claim that David Cameron is trying to keep the deal under wraps before the 23 June EU vote.
Former Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith accused the Prime Minister of “an appalling deceit” of the British public over the deal.
“The Government is clearly working with the EU to keep a lid on it until after the referendum when all the decisions will surface too late.”
Turkish “special passports” are supposedly granted to top government chiefs in Ankara, civil servants, teachers and their families.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pursuing visa-free travel for Turks within the EU as part of a deal.
In return, the Ankara strongman would close Turkey’s deadly border with Syria.
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