“Instrument of pressure”: why Turkey announced its refusal to close its borders with EU countries

Ankara will leave open its borders with EU countries for Syrian refugees. This was stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"They call and say:" Close the borders. " I said, "Late." The West should share the burden of responsibility for refugees, ”the Turkish leader of RIA Novosti quotes.

At the same time, the head of the republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Suleiman Soilu, said on his Twitter that more than 117 thousand illegal migrants have crossed the Turkish border with the European Union.

Saat 13.50 itibarıyla Edirne üzerinden ülkemizden ayrılan göçmen sayısı; 117.677

Recall, Ankara said earlier that it decided to open the border, because the EU has not fulfilled its financial promises, and Turkey will not be able to withstand a new wave of migrants. The decision to open the border for refugees was made after the incident in Idlib, where 33 Turkish soldiers died as a result of shelling by Syrian government forces. Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense explained that the cause of the incident was the presence of Turkish armed forces in the military regiments of the militants.

According to Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, Erdogan’s decision to open the border with the EU was also influenced by the fact that Greece vetoed a NATO statement supporting the Turkish operation in Syria.

“Ankara turned to NATO and hoped that the alliance would support it. However, Athens blocked this decision, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
• © Turkish Presidential Press Office / Handout via REUTERS

In turn, Araik Stepanyan, a member of the Presidium of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, noted in an interview with RT that Erdogan uses the migration issue as the “last way to succeed” in his military operation in Syria.

“Since the Turkish leader does not succeed in doing this directly by force in the SAR, the flow of refugees has become for him an instrument of pressure on the European Union. Erdogan hopes that the EU will somehow influence Russia, which supports the Syrian government, ”the analyst said.

At the same time, by manipulating the migration issue, the Turkish president wants to force the EU leadership to allocate additional funding, Stepanyan explained.

“This is especially true in view of Erdogan’s large spending on the war in Syria - now he needs to close such a gap with something. This is what European money is for. After all, someone should cover these costs, since it is not known how much more Ankara will spend on a military operation in the SAR, ”the expert explained.

Reaction of Europe

In response to Ankara’s actions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the situation with migrants is a “pan-European problem”, so on March 3, the entire EU leadership will go to the border of Greece and Turkey, where the largest number of refugees gathered. She will also be accompanied by European Parliament President David Sassoli and European Council President Charles Michel.

The intention, together with the Greek prime minister, to visit the Greek-Turkish border was previously announced by the President of the European Council Charles Michel.

“We support Greece’s efforts to protect European borders and are closely monitoring the situation on the ground,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

Support for Greek efforts to protect the European borders. Closely monitoring the situation on the ground.

I will be visiting the Greek-Turkish border on Tuesday with @PrimeministerGR Mitsotakis.

European leaders also responded to the actions of Ankara.

So, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the republic is ready to assist Greece and Bulgaria in protecting the borders from mass migration of refugees.

“Full solidarity with Greece and Bulgaria. France is ready to contribute to European efforts to provide them with quick assistance and border protection. We must work together to avoid a humanitarian and migration crisis, ”he wrote on Twitter.

In turn, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz stated the need to better strengthen the borders of the European Union. He wrote about this on the social network Facebook. According to Kurtz, the situation in 2015, when a wave of migrants surged into Europe, “should never happen again”.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis via Twitter announced that Athens will not consider new asylum applications in the coming months. According to him, in this way the Greek side increases the security of its borders.

Our national security council has taken the decision to increase the level of deterrence at our borders to the maximum. As of now we will not be accepting any new asylum applications for 1 month. We are invoking article 78.3 of the TFEU to ensure full European support.

Earlier, at the end of February, Mitsotakis informed the European authorities that a significant number of migrants and refugees gathered on the Greek-Turkish land border and tried to illegally enter the country.

Meanwhile, the European Agency for the Protection of External Borders Frontex in a report to EU leaders warned that "mass migration to Greece" is expected. The document, which was at the disposal of the newspaper Die Welt, also notes that this "mass flow of people" will be difficult to stop.

New Migration Issues

Recall that in 2016, an agreement was concluded between Turkey and the European Union, according to which Ankara committed to accept illegal migrants trying to enter the EU. In exchange for every illegal immigrant from Syria, the EU has pledged to take one legal Syrian refugee from Turkish territory.

For such cooperation, Brussels promised Ankara to accelerate the liberalization of the visa regime, as well as to pay € 3 billion in support.

However, experts recall that none of the parties fulfilled their promises in full.

Now, as Araik Stepanyan notes, “Hard times await Europe.” If Turkey leaves the borders open, the EU will again be overwhelmed by the migration crisis, the expert explained.

“The countries of Europe on this occasion express their strong concern. They have not yet coped with the old migration problems, and here new ones are already coming to them. Moreover, EU states will be filled with refugees by at least another half a million people. Germany and France will suffer the most. In addition, the penetration of representatives of terrorist groups cannot be ruled out. This means that the degree of terrorist threat in Europe will increase even more, ”the analyst predicted.

• Migrants on the Turkish-Greek border, February 29, 2020
• © BULENT KILIC / AFP

Vladimir Olenchenko, in turn, said that if the migration wave from Turkey continues to increase, then "it will be extremely difficult to stop it."

“If in 2015 the refugee situation was close to catastrophic, now it’s quite difficult to predict exactly how events will unfold. However, Europe will get even more problems than it has now - this is unambiguous, ”the analyst said.