Turkey yesterday vowed that the Syrian regime will “pay a price” for dozens of dead Turkish soldiers and raised pressure on the EU over the conflict by threatening to let thousands of migrants enter the bloc.
Turkey and Russia, which back opposing forces in the Syria conflict, held high-level talks to try to defuse tensions that have sparked fears of a broader war and a new migration crisis for Europe.
Greek police clashed with thousands of migrants who were already gathering on the border to try to enter Europe.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to allow refugees to travel on to Europe from Turkey, which he said can no longer handle new waves of people fleeing war-torn Syria.
It already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
The comments were his first after 34 Turkish troops were killed since Thursday in the northern Syria province of Idlib, where Moscow-backed Syrian regime forces are battling to retake the last rebel holdout area.
“What did we do yesterday [Friday]? We opened the doors,” Erdogan said in Istanbul. “We will not close those doors... Why? Because the European Union should keep its promises.”
He was referring to a 2016 deal with the EU to stop refugee flows in exchange for billions of euros in aid.
In Athens, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held an emergency meeting to discuss tensions on the border with Turkey.
The Turkish leader said 18,000 migrants have amassed on the Turkish borders with Europe since Friday, adding that the number could reach as many as 30,000 yesterday.
Thousands of migrants who remained stuck on the Turkish-Greek border were in skirmishes with Greek police, who fired tear gas to push them back, according to an Agence France-Presse photographer in the western Turkish province of Edirne.
The migrants massed at the Pazarkule border crossing responded by hurling stones at the police.
In 2015, Greece became the main EU entry point for 1 million migrants, most of them refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war. The pressure to cope with the influx split the EU.
“Greece yesterday came under an organized, mass, illegal attack ... a violation of our borders and endured it,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said after the emergency meeting with Mitsotakis. “We averted more than 4,000 attempts of illegal entrance to our land borders.”
A Greek police source said security forces fired tear gas against migrants massing on the Turkish side, because the migrants had set fires and opened holes in the border fences.
Armed policemen and soldiers are patrolling the Evros River shores — a common crossing point — and are warning with loudspeakers not to enter Greek territory.
Greek authorities were also using drones to monitor the migrants moves.
Greek Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos told Skai television the situation was under control
“I believe that the borders have been protected,” he said.
From early Friday to early yesterday 180 migrants reached the islands of Eastern Aegean, Lesbos and Samos in sea crossings, the Greek coast guard said.
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