Turkey will not stop migrants from seeking refuge in Europe: Official

Turkey has said on February 28 that it will no longer close its borders for the refugees who wish to go to Europe. Shortly after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike at northern Syria, a senior official told an international news agency that the government will not try to stop the refugees who wish to flee to Europe while seeking refuge. The official reportedly spoke on the condition of anonymity when nearly 300 migrants including Syrians have already arrived in Edirne province on the border with Greece. 

According to an international news agency, another group of migrants had arrived on the coast of Ayvacik in Canakkale, western Turkey in a bid to go to the Greek island of Lesbos by boats. The latest killing of Turkish soldiers in the northern Syrian province, Idlib, led to an emergency meeting chaired by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has occasionally placed the blamed of such military offensives on Damascus. 

Read - Turkey Says 2 Turkish Soldiers Killed In Libya

3.6 million refugees in Turkey

Turkey is currently home to at least 3.6 million Syrian refugees and fears that more people might be arriving in the country, as per reports. According to international reports, Erdogan's top press aide had accused the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of “conducting ethnic cleansing” in order to drive millions of Syrians out of Idlib.  He also wrote that Turkey does not have the capacity and resources to host more refugees which are already close to nearly four million. 

Read - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey Close Borders With Iran Over Coronavirus Fear

Erdogan's top press aide also claimed that those people will now try to leave for Turkey or Europe. Meanwhile, Greece along with its other partners in the European Union already fear another influx of migrants from Syria after nearly more than one million managed to reach in 2015. This was before EU-Turkey signed an accord in order to control the numbers of refugees. Last year, Erdogan had also threatened that he would send millions of Syrian refugees to Europe. That was in response to the criticism by the European countries of his military offensive into northern Syria. 

Read - Turkey Closes Iran Border As Virus Precaution

Read - Seven Dead In Turkey As 5.7 Earthquake Strikes Western Iran

(With agency inputs)