Hundreds of migrants moved across northwestern Turkey towards the border with Greece and Bulgaria after a senior Turkish official said that Ankara would not prevent Syrian refugees from now on from reaching Europe.
The official said that orders were issued to the Turkish police, coast guard and border security officials not to prevent the crossing of refugees across land and sea towards Europe, in anticipation of an imminent flow of refugees from Idlib.
The Demir Oran news agency reported that about 300 migrants, including women and children, were among the group that headed towards the border in the Turkish province of Edirne around midnight.
She added that there are Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Moroccans in the group.
She added that immigrants also gathered at the Iwajik suburb on the western coast of Turkey in the province of Janakkala with the aim of traveling to the Greek island of Lipsos in a boat.
It was not possible to independently verify their identities or destination. Also, it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the video footage of the migrants broadcast by Turkish pro-government TV channels.
Turkish NTV television showed footage showing dozens of people marching through fields with backpacks on their backs, and said that the refugees tried to cross the Kapikuli border crossing to Bulgaria but were not allowed to pass.
He added that the same group of immigrants then walked across the fields to reach the Pazarkole border crossing into Greece.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to open doors for migrants to travel to Europe. If Turkey does so, it would represent a retreat from its pledge to the European Union in 2016 and might attract Western powers to confront in Idlib.
In Sofia, Bulgarian Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov said Friday that his country is ready to deploy up to 1,000 soldiers and military equipment on the border with Turkey to prevent the flow of illegal immigrants.
The minister said that the border police prevented two groups of about 30 people from entering Bulgaria from Turkey early Friday after Ankara said it would not prevent Syrian refugees from reaching Europe anymore.
Nearly a million civilians have been displaced in Syria near the Turkish border since last December.