Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government is allowing refugees to travel on to Europe because Turkey cannot handle a new wave of people fleeing war-torn Syria.
Speaking at a meeting attended by MPs at the Presidential Dolmabahce Labor Office in Istanbul, on Saturday, Erdogan said referring to the EU ”what did we say months ago? If this goes like this, we’re going to have to open the doors [border]. They were bothered, they [the EU] didn’t believe what we’re saying.”
Erdogan’s speech came after 33 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, on Thursday.
”Until now, over 2,100 [Syrian] regime elements – let’s not call them regime elements anymore – their soldiers have been killed. Ninety-four tanks, 37 howitzers, 28 multiple rocket launchers, and 300 piece of equipment, including 17 armoured vehicles, have been destroyed,” Erdogan said. ”Since they [Syrian government] forced us into it, they’ll put up with the consequences.”
He added, ”Yesterday I also told Mr Putin, what are you doing there? If you set up a base, set up the base again. But right now, you guys get out of our way and leave us alone with the regime. We do what we have to do with the regime.”
Large numbers of migrants and refugees have been heading to Turkey’s European borders since Thursday, after announcements by Turkish officials that they would no longer try to prevent migrants and refugees from reaching Europe.
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