Migrants: awaited for discussions in Brussels, Erdogan calls on Greece to "open its doors"

After ordering the coast guard to prevent migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called on Greece to "open its doors" for them to enter the European Union (EU). He will meet some of its leaders on Monday in Brussels to discuss the Syrian conflict and migration issues, the European Council announced on Sunday.

"Hey, Greece! I appeal to you ... Open your doors too and free yourself from this burden," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a televised speech in Istanbul. "Let them go to other European countries," he added.

On the very day of this request, he announced that he was going to Belgium on Monday to discuss the migration issue with European Union officials.

Migration, security and stability as topics for discussion

"I will have a meeting with European Union officials tomorrow in Belgium," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday in a speech in Istanbul broadcast on television, adding "hope to return from Belgium with different results".

The Head of State will notably meet Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.

They will talk about "migration, security, stability in the region and the crisis in Syria," said Barend Leyts, a spokesperson for Charles Michel, on Twitter.

President @eucopresident and President @vonderleyen will meet with President @RTErdogan of Turkey on Monday at 18h in Brussels to discuss EU-Turkey matters, including migration, security, stability in the region and the crisis in Syria.

Under the terms of the agreement, Turkey had agreed to contain the flow of migrants fleeing the war in Syria, in exchange for several billion euros.

But Ankara considers the aid obtained so far insufficient to meet the cost of the four million migrants and refugees, mainly Syrians, which it has welcomed for years.

Behind the negotiations hangs the specter of Idleb

Turkey also wishes to obtain EU support for its military operations in northern Syria. The Syrian regime's offensive - backed by Moscow - against the northwestern province of Idleb, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, has caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Ankara fears that these displaced people, estimated at nearly one million, will flock to its territory.

The head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell and the president of the European Council Charles Michel had met in Ankara Wednesday Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also spoke on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had spearheaded the negotiations leading to the 2016 agreement.

>> Read also: Amani Ballour, a Syrian pediatrician at the heart of the fighting: "I have seen too many children die"

On Friday, the Turkish president eased migration pressure on the EU by ordering the coastguards to prevent migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea, another route to Greece.

Greek authorities announced on Thursday that more than 1,700 had arrived on the Greek islands, in addition to the 38,000 already present who overcrowded the refugee camps in increasingly precarious conditions.

With AFP and Reuters

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