Turkey started allowing Syrian refugees to cross to Greece as a means to pressure European governments over the Syrian conflict after Moscow-backed Syrian forces killed 34 Turkish troops there since Thursday. “What did we do yesterday… We opened the doors,” Erdogan said in Istanbul in his first comments after the deaths of Turkish troops in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. Turkey, which is already home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, fears more people arriving in the country where there is growing popular discontent against their presence. “We are not in a situation to handle a new wave of refugees” from Syria, Erdogan said. If you establish a base, do so, but get out of our way and leave us face to face with the regime.

Source: The Express Tribune February 29, 2020 11:48 UTC