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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAssad says Erdogan blackmailing Europe with refugees
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday accused his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of blackmailing Europe by opening its borders to fleeing refugees.
"Turkey has started to send a second wave of refugees as a form of blackmail to Europe," Assad said in an interview with the Russia 24 channel aired on Syrian state TV.
As thousands of desperate refugees gathered on Turkey's border with European Union member Greece, some EU states and the bloc's migration commissioner have also accused Turkey of using migrants as a bargaining chip with Brussels to get support for its operations in Syria.
A three-month-old military offensive by Damascus, which Russia has supported with air power, has shrunk Syria's last rebel bastion and displaced close to a million people.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200305-assad-says-erdogan-blackmailing-europe-with-refugees
Amishman
(5,541 posts)South Eastern Europe, especially Greece, have hit the limit of what their population is willing to accomodate in terms of refugees. European leaders know that a huge influx will mean an escalation in civil unrest.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Boomerproud
(7,889 posts)abqtommy
(14,118 posts)open Turkey's borders is due to the exasperation of waiting for the rest of the world to clean up this
refugee business. I do support the refugees and will take any reasonable solution, whether motivated by blackmail or exasperation.
maxsolomon
(32,989 posts)based on what?
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Hearing about your opinion of my opinion, not so much.