China News Service, March 4th. According to foreign media reports, due to concerns about the new immigration crisis, senior EU diplomats went to Turkey on the 3rd to discuss related issues.
It is reported that EU High Representative Borrell and EU Commissioner Lenasic will stay in Turkey for two days to hold a "high-level" meeting on the Syrian crisis and immigration disputes.
On March 1st, in Edirne, Turkey, migrants were walking to the Turkish-Greek border.
Thousands of refugees have arrived at Turkey's border with Greece since Turkish President Erdogan announced that he will no longer prevent refugees from trying to enter Europe.
According to Ankara, "million" refugees may soon enter Europe from Turkey. Analysis believes that Turkey "opens the door" to allow refugees to enter the EU in order to force EU leaders to support Erdogan's military offensive in Syria.
Critics have reportedly said that migrants "should not be used as a negotiating tool, that the government should stop directing them to unsafe crossings" and that the closure of Europe's borders "endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of migrants."
On February 27, Turkish troops were attacked by Syrian government forces in Idlib province, Syria, causing serious casualties. Turkey then retaliated, and the conflict between the two sides escalated. According to reports, the fighting caused a large number of Syrian refugees to rush to Turkey, and Turkey relaxed its control over the Greek and Bulgarian borders with EU member states, causing thousands of refugees to try to enter the EU countries from Turkey.
In 2016, the EU and Turkey reached an agreement on cooperation to resolve the refugee crisis. According to the agreement, Turkey takes measures to prevent refugees from entering the EU countries across the border, and the EU provides funding for the resettlement of refugees in Turkey. Turkish officials say Turkey has now hosted about 3.7 million Syrian refugees. Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly stated that Turkey will no longer face the Syrian refugee problem alone.