ISTANBUL: Turkey has opened its border gates for refugees heading to Europe, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, claiming nearly 20,000 people have crossed and that more would come.
“We opened the gates yesterday. And as of this morning, the number of those who passed reached 18,000,” Erdogan told party members in Istanbul.
This number will probably reach as many as 30,000 on Saturday, Erdogan said, after migrants began amassing on Friday on Turkey’s border with EU members Greece and Bulgaria.
The Turkish president criticised the European Union for not adhering to a 2016 deal to send financial aid in return for Ankara blocking a refugee influx into the bloc.
“The European Union has to keep its promises,” he said.
Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to open the borders for refugees into Europe unless sufficient international aid is provided.
Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is concerned about a new massive refugee influx from Syria, where fighting has escalated in the flashpoint Idlib province that borders Turkey.
Aid agencies and the United Nations describe the situation in Idlib as a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Turkish border move comes after 36 of its troops were killed on Thursday in an air raid in Idlib, Ankara’s largest single-day military loss in Syria during the war.
As part of its response, Turkey on Friday put fresh pressure on Nato and its EU partners by signalling it would no long prevent refugees from entering Europe.
That led to hundreds of refugees heading to border gates and coastal cities, hoping to cross by land or sea into Europe.
Greece on Saturday said it has pushed back to Turkey more than 4,000 migrants, using tear gas and stun grenades overnight to prevent crossings at Kastanies and Pazarkule gates.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT showed footage of refugees, including children, crossing the border river in rubber dinghies, into Greece. Some refugees were seen running in despair, affected by tear gas.
Some others were camping out in the cold.
Erdogan was speaking for the first time after the attack on Turkish soldiers in Idlib.
Syrian government and Russian allies’ steady advances into the embattled province have displaced nearly 950,000 people, who are fleeing to Turkey’s border. “We can not bear the burden of a new refugee influx,” Erdogan said. — dpa
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