In view of the worsening situation in Syria, the EU is facing a new asylum crisis. Turkey's President Erdogan sees the 2016 refugee pact as a failure.
- The situation on the EU's external border with Turkey is coming to a head.
- Turkey's President Erdogan threatens the European Union with the termination of the Refugee Pact.
- Tens of thousands of refugees are trying to enter the EU.
Ankara / Berlin - After the opening of its borders towards the EU announced by Turkey, according to the UN Organization for Migration, more than 13,000 migrants have arrived at the border with Greece . Turkish interior minister Süleyman Soylu claimed on Twitter that by Saturday evening 36,776 migrants had crossed the border towards the European Union. The neighboring EU neighboring countries Greece and Bulgaria could not confirm this.
Erdogan opens gates to EU refugee deal with Turkey threatens to fail
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country was no longer holding refugees on their way to Europe. Erdogan said on Saturday that the "gates" of Turkey are now open to refugees who want to go to Europe. There were first clashes at border crossings to Greece on Saturday, in the course of which tear gas was also used against the advancing migrants.
Greek border guards are behind a barrier to migrants trying to enter Greece at the border gate from Pazarkule.
© picture alliance / dpa / Ismail Coskun
Turkey's actions violate the refugee pact with the EU in 2016. Erdogan justified this by saying that the EU did not adhere to the refugee pact concluded in March 2016. Ankara undertook to take back all refugees arriving in the Greek Aegean Islands and to take action against gangs of smugglers. In return, the EU promised Turkey billions in aid, accelerated visa facilitation and the modernization of the customs union. Erdogan may now be trying to extort more money from the EU to accommodate and care for the refugees.
Turkey is under pressure because of the offensive that Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad is currently leading in the last rebel stronghold Idlib with military support from Russia. According to the UN, almost a million people have been displaced since December, so that the number of refugees continues to increase in Turkey. Turkey has already taken in more than 3.6 million refugees from Syria.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel are concerned about the situation on the EU's external borders with Turkey. "Our top priority is that Greece and Bulgaria have our full support," tweeted von der Leyen on Saturday evening. The EU is ready for further support, also with additional forces from the EU border protection agency Frontex.
Our top priority at this stage is to ensure that Greece and Bulgaria have our full support. We stand ready to provide additional support including through #Frontex on the land border. (2/2)
- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 29, 2020Turkey-EU crisis: Greens and FDP increase pressure on Chancellor Merkel
In view of the escalation of the refugee situation on the EU border with Turkey, the Greens now see Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) as an obligation. A green solution was needed for the distribution of refugees, the Green Party leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt said in the newspapers of the Funke media group from the federal government. If necessary, Merkel would have to forge an "alliance of the willing" .
FDP General Secretary Linda Teuteberg called for completely different consequences in view of the reports on the opening of the borders by Turkey. "Payments to Turkey must be suspended immediately if President Erdogan breaks agreements," Teuteberg told Bild on Sunday . Merkel must now "put all its weight into play" so that a situation like 2015 does not repeat itself. In addition, she must emphasize "that an uncontrolled migration to Germany is prevented by all means of the rule of law".
Norbert Röttgen (CDU) campaigns for understanding Erdogan's approach - "A call for help"
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Norbert Röttgen (CDU), has warned the European Union to react harshly to the latest proposals by Turkish President Erdogan. Its announcement that Turkey's borders with the EU are open to refugees has "the external form of a threat", but the content is "a cry for help" to Europe, said Röttgen of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . "This is how we should understand it and not as a provocation," warned Röttgen. Erdogan had failed in his attempt to work with Russia in Syria, and that is exactly what he is now signaling to the West. His announcement that he would now keep the Turkish borders open to refugees with the aim of the EU would be: "Look, I have failed with my Russia policy, and now I need the Europeans."
Rubric list picture: © dpa / Angelos Tzortzinis
