Around 30,000 Syrians are at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says.
“Around 30,000 Syrians have now massed,” the border with northwestern Syria which remains closed, he tells a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Ankara.
Davutoglu also says Turkey and Germany have agreed on a set of steps to halt the flow of refugees from Syria, including a joint diplomatic initiative to stop the onslaught against Aleppo.
Davutoglu says the two countries would also carry out “joint efforts” for greater NATO involvement in the refugee issue. He said they would seek the use of NATO’s observation capabilities at the border with Syria and in the Aegean Sea.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu speak as they look toward the city center after a welcome ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, February 8, 2016. (AP/Burhan Ozbilici)
Meanwhile, a top government official has reacted angrily to European Union pressure on Turkey to open its doors to the tens of thousands of Syrians who have massed at the frontier.
Refugee children arrive at the Turkish border crossing gate as Syrians fleeing the embattled city of Aleppo wait on February 6, 2016 in Bab al-Salama, near the city of Azaz, northern Syria. (AFP/BULENT KILIC)
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan accuses the EU of giving Turkey lessons in morality and pushing the refugee burden on the country, without taking any responsibility itself.
“On the one hand they say ‘open your borders, take everyone in’ on the other hand they say ‘close your border don’t let anyone through,” he says
“Without even providing money, they say ‘taking these people is conscience necessity,'” Akdogan says. “Is it just us that must to act with conscience? … Why don’t you take them in?”
— AP and AFP
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