Europe will not "give in to the migratory blackmail" exercised by Turkey and its borders will remain "closed" to migrants sent by this country, said this Wednesday the head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“I would like to point out that the migratory pressure which is today at the gates of Europe - from Greece, a little from Bulgaria, a little from Cyprus - is organized by the regime of President Erdogan to constitute an element of blackmail in with regard to the European Union, ”he said during a question and answer session to the government in the Senate. “The European Union will not give in to this blackmail (…) The borders of Greece and the Schengen area are closed and we will make sure that they remain closed, that things are clear! Added the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Fear of a migration crisis
Turkey said Friday it had opened its borders to Europe to let migrants who want to go there, despite a 2016 pact between Ankara and Brussels under which the Turkish government agreed committed to fighting illegal crossings.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that a solution to the migration crisis required European support in Ankara, Syria, when new clashes broke out between refugees and police on the Greek border. In addition to the 3.6 million Syrian refugees present in Turkey, nearly a million of them, fleeing the offensive of President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian ally in Idleb in north-western Syria, crowd along the Turkish border on the Syrian side.
"The current crisis in northern Syria is dramatic, we are heading towards a real cataclysm," said Jean-Yves Le Drian, pointing to the responsibility of the Damascus regime in this situation, constituting possible "war crimes". . "In this area out of the three million inhabitants, you have 1.5 million refugees who will not cross into Turkey since the border there is really closed and who are in a state of destitution, of considerable distress", has t -he says.
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