Erdogan vows to keep EU doors open to refugees

ISTANBUL - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday vowed to allow refugees to travel on to Europe from Turkey, which he said can no longer handle new waves of people fleeing war-torn Syria.

"What did we do yesterday? We opened the doors," Erdogan said in Istanbul in his first comments since 33 Turkish troops were killed in northern Syria on Thursday. "We will not close those doors... Why? Because the European Union should keep its promises.We don't have to take care of this many refugees."

Turkey's borders to Europe were closed to migrants under a 2016 accord between Turkey and the European Union that halted the 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people crossed into Europe by foot. If Erdogan really has opened the border, it would be a dramatic departure from Turkey's current policy.

Erdogan complained the funds transferred to Turkey from the EU to support refugees were arriving too slowly and said he had asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to send the funds directly to the Turkish government.

The Turkish leader claimed 18,000 migrants have amassed on the Turkish borders with Europe since Friday, adding that the number could reach as many as 30,000 on Saturday. He provided no evidence for his figures.

Turkey currently hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, and many fleeing war and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East use it as a staging post and transit point to reach Europe, usually through neighboring Greece. Erdogan has frequently threatened to “open the gates” and allow refugees and migrants to head to Europe unless more international support was provided, particularly at times of tension with European countries.

Migrants played a cat-and-mouse game with Greek border patrols throughout Friday night and into Saturday, with some cutting holes in the border fence only to be turned back by tear gas and stun grenades. Greek authorities also fired tear gas to repulse attempts by the crowd to push through the border.

“We learnt the border was open and we headed there. But we saw it was closed, and we found a hole in the fence and went through it,” said Ali Nikad, a 17-year-old Iranian who made it into Greece overnight with a group of friends.

Nikad said he had spent two months in Turkey but couldn’t make ends meet, and was hoping to find his uncle who was already in Greece. But many people who made it across the land border were seen being arrested by Greek police and driven away in white vans.

A police officer told The Associated Press news agency there was pressure along the 200-kilometer land border from migrants trying to force their way through overnight, and groups were being constantly repulsed. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the record.

Others were making their way to Greek islands in dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast.

"The government will do whatever it takes to protect its borders," government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters. "This has nothing to do with Idlib," he said, adding that in the past 24 hours Greek authorities had prevented attempts by 4,000 people to cross the border.

The move by Turkey to open its border, first announced Thursday, was seen in Greece as a deliberate attempt to pressure European countries. It also comes as tensions ratcheted up between Turkey and the Syrian regime - more than 55 Turkish troops have been killed since Turkey began sending further reinforcements into areas of northwest Syria under the control of rebels, which are backed by Turkey.

Military action

Thursday's deaths of 33 Turkish troops — the highest number in a single day since Turkey first intervened in Syria in 2016 — was the most serious escalation between Turkish and Russian-backed Syrian forces. The development has raised the prospect of an all-out war with millions of Syrian civilians trapped in the middle.

Turkey has looked to retaliate against Syrian regime forces and its allies. Turkish strikes on northwest Syria late on Friday killed nine members of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group and wounded 30 others, a commander in the regional alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said.

The commander said on Saturday that the Turkish strikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters near the city of Saraqeb in Idlib province, a flashpoint of fighting in recent days, using smart missiles and drones.

But Turkey's Defense Ministry also said one of its soldiers was killed and two were injured by Syrian government shelling, bringing the total number of Turkish fatalities in one week to 34.

Syrian government forces have been on a weeks-long offensive into Idlib, the country's last rebel stronghold, which borders Turkey. Thousands of Turkish soldiers are deployed inside rebel-controlled areas of Idlib province, which is currently dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants.

Erdogan had given the Syrian government until the end of the month to pull back from areas captured in Idlib, threatening large-scale military action if they didn't. But any large scale Turkish military action risks more loss of life among Turkish soldiers. Erdogan had kept unusually silent since the 33 deaths.

NATO envoys held emergency talks Friday at the request of Turkey, a NATO member. But the alliance did not offer Turkey any assistance beyond urging 'deescalation' in northern Syria.

Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Friday and discussed implementing agreements in Idlib, the Kremlin said. Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's director of communications, said they had agreed to meet "as soon as possible."

Erdogan said on Saturday that he had asked Putin for Russia to step aside in Syria and leave Turkey to deal with Syrian government forces alone.

Erdogan also spoke with other world leaders, including President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cease-fire in Idlib. He warned that “without urgent action, the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour, and as always, civilians are paying the gravest price.”

The Idlib offensive has pushed nearly 950,000 displaced civilians toward the Syrian-Turkish border amid cold winter weather.