Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday that his country would be forced to open doors for Syrian refugees seeking to reach Europe if Ankara does not get more international support, while criticizing not allowing Ankara to acquire nuclear weapons, while his government confirmed that it had completed its preparations for the application Agreement on the Safe Zone in Syria.

In detail, Erdogan said that if the safe area is not realized, "we will have to open the doors." "Either you give us support, if you don't, sorry, but that's what we can afford."

"Are we the only ones who will bear the burden of the refugees?" Erdogan asked.

He said Turkey had spent $ 40 billion on refugees. He criticized the West, especially the European Union, for not fulfilling its promises.

More than 3.6 million Syrian refugees reside in Turkey, which has recently demanded a "safe zone" in northeastern Syria, where refugees can return.

Under a deal signed in 2016, the EU promised Ankara 6 billion euros ($ 6.6 billion) in return for tougher measures to prevent refugees from leaving its territory to Europe, but Erdogan said only 3 billion euros had arrived so far.

"We might have to do that (open the gates) to get (European support)," he said.

The European Commission's spokeswoman, Natasha Bertu, denied Erdogan's statement yesterday, and told reporters in Brussels that the European Union provided 5.6 billion euros to Turkey under the agreement, and «the remaining balance will be sent soon».

Turkey also welcomes hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans who have fled conflicts in their countries.

In an effort to pressure the United States, which is due to conduct joint patrols in the safe area, Erdogan said that Turkey "is determined to actually start its establishment by the last week of September."

He said 350,000 Syrians had already returned to areas of their country controlled by Turkish forces during two operations in 2016 and 2018.

He said: «We aim to resettle at least one million Syrian brothers in the safe area to be formed along the border of 450 km».

On another issue, Erdogan said it was unacceptable that nuclear-armed states should not allow Turkey to acquire nuclear weapons, but he did not say whether Ankara had plans to acquire them.

"Some countries have missiles with nuclear warheads, not one or two," he told members of his ruling AK Party in the eastern city of Sivas. But (she tells us) we can't have it. "That's what I can't accept."

"No developed country in the world does not have it," Erdogan said. In fact, many developed countries do not possess nuclear weapons.

He continued: «Israel is close to us as if we are neighbors. It scares other countries by having these weapons. "No one can touch her."

This comes at a time when Turkish presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, informed last night, US National Security Adviser, John Bolton, that Ankara is ready to implement the agreement with Washington on the establishment of a safe area in Syria «without delay», according to the official Anatolia News Agency .

- The Turkish presidency informed John Bolton

Ankara is ready to implement the agreement

With Washington on a safe zone

In Syria «without delay».