EU calls on Turkey to adhere to deal as Ankara opens EU borders

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region-  The European Union on Friday called on the Turkish government to adhere to a 2016 deal designed to curb a further flow of refugees into Europe after Turkey announced it would not prevent them from reaching the borders. 

An EU spokesperson told reporters in a briefing that they expect Turkey to adhere to the deal and said that there has been no official change in Ankara’s stance towards asylum seekers or refugees, Reuters reported.

“From our point of view the EU-Turkey statement ... still stands and we expect Turkey to uphold its commitments stemming from this statement. The Turkish authorities officially confirmed there is no change in the official policy ... we expect that it will continue to stay so,” they said. 

Turkey hosts around 3.6 million Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war and the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The migration caused a major crisis in Europe, prompting a 2016 EU-Turkey deal which saw refugees illegally entering the EU returned to Turkey in exchange for financial aid. 

Following the death of 33 Turkish soldiers in airstrikes in Idlib on Thursday, Turkey said it would no longer prevent refugees from reaching its borders with Europe.

It is unclear if Turkey is trying to push Europe to spring to action and aid its Idlib policy in Syria with the breakdown of a 2018 ceasefire deal. Idlib is home to millions of Syrians, and Turkey has argued that it cannot contain the influx of refugees.

“Assad’s  regime has been conducting ethnic cleansing & seeks to drive millions of Syrians out of Idlib. These people will try to escape to Turkey and Europe. Already hosting close to 4 million refugees, we do not have the capacity and resources to allow entry to another million,” presidential aide Fahrettin Altun said in a Friday tweet.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in December that a lack of aid pushed Turkey to pursue operations in northeast Syria late last year.

Photos and videos emerging from Turkish media showed hundreds of migrants, including Afghan migrants, heading towards the border city Edirne bordering Greece, and others were loading their families into dinghies to take the perilous sea journey to Greece.

Greece has boosted its border patrols in a bid to prevent an  influx into the country.

Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini’s also reported that the head of Greek Armed Force Lt. Gen. Konstantinos Foloros is on the border in a bid to strengthen border security.  

Bulgaria also announced that it is ready to deploy up to 1,000 troops and military equipment to stem the refugee flow.