Erdogan: Refugees, migrants free to leave

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday defended his decision to ease restrictions on refugees and migrants wishing to cross to Europe. Speaking alongside Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in Ankara, Erdogan said,"Refugees and migrants are free to leave wherever they are, and free to chose where they will go."

Turkey's announcement marked a dramatic departure from its previous policy of containing refugees and other migrants under an agreement with the European Union.

Erdogan, whose country hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, has demanded more support from Europe in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian war to its south.

He said there were still 1.5 million people waiting in Idlib's borders, "having abandoned their homes".

Thousands of migrants on Monday tried to find a way across Turkey's land border into Greece, which has made clear its borders will remain closed.

Erdogan accused the European Union of ignoring Turkey's security concerns while supporting Greece, who he said had taken "measures that result in deaths, violating the 1951 Geneva Convention and European Convention on Human Rights."

Greek authorities said they had stopped more than 24,000 attempted illegal crossings at the land border with Turkey since early Saturday, and arrested 183 people - very few of whom were Syrians.

The U.N. refugee agency appealed for calm at the Greek-Turkish border.

But it said that while the situation there is “of concern,” the "humanitarian disaster unfolding in northwest Syria and massive humanitarian needs in Idlib for some 950,000 internally displaced continues to require urgent action.”