Turkish President Erdogan has Warned Europe about New Refugee Flow from Syria

A new stream of refugees has started in northeastern Syria. Turkish President Erdogan has warned Europe that his country cannot receive even more Syrian refugees.

 

In recent days, tens of thousands of Syrians have fled in the province of Idlib for bombing by the Syrian army and its ally Russia. The numbers vary between 80,000 and 120,000 displaced persons.

They have fled towards villages and reception camps near the Turkish border. The conditions in those camps are poor.

Idlib is the last region still in the hands of opposition groups. The most important of these is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

However, there are also around three million citizens living in the region, some of whom are already domestic refugees.

In recent years, files have been closed several times between Russia and Turkey to restore peace to the area. Last week, violence between the armed groups and the Syrian army flared up again.

The Turkish president Erdogan fears that even more Syrians will flee and said that his country could not handle even more refugees. There are already 3.7 million Syrians in Turkey.

“If that pressure becomes even higher, Europe, and especially Greece, will notice it,” Erdogan said, referring to the 2015 refugee crisis when hundreds of thousands of Syrians moved further into Europe via Greece. A Turkish delegation flew to Russia today conversations about the situation.