“We heard
talk about it on television “, said a 16-year-old Afghan, Sahin Nebizade, to the Reuters agency, crammed into a taxi packed with migrants. Most
he preferred to follow the path on foot, many with children in his arms.
Reuters says it was informed of the measure by a senior Turkish official, anonymously. THE
Greece and Bulgaria strengthened border posts after the
information starts to circulate. “The international community must take measures to protect civilians and
establish a no-fly zone in the Idlib region, ”said the
communication director for the Turkish Presidency, Fahrettin Altun, quoted
through the Al Jazeera.
In Pazarkule, at the entrance to Greece,
migrants faced rolls of barbed wire and smoke grenades. Those who
tried to return to Turkish soil were prevented. Hundreds of people were trapped in a no-man’s-land.
“We want the Turkish and Greek governments to open this gate,” reacted Hamid Muhammed, with a girl on his lap.
The Greek Prime Minister has already said that illegal entry will not be allowed.
The Prime Minister of Bulgaria recalled that, in a scenario of threat from the
new coronavirus, a new migrant crisis is even more serious than
previously.
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The opinion of Jozé Milhazes, to Antena 1, on the threat of the biggest migrant wave “ever” in Europe
Both the European Union and the United Nations
underlined, in separate communiqués, that Ankara has not yet officially communicated any opening of borders to them.
This would mean annulment of an agreement signed with the European Union in 2016, under which Ankara
forced to sustain, in its territory, people from all over the Middle
East who want to enter European soil.
In a statement this Friday, the communications director for Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan ensured that the Government of Ankara “decided to respond to the
illegitimate Syrian regime, in the same way that this has harmed
Turkish soldiers ”.
“It was your fault”. Russia and Turkey exchange accusations
The threat to annul the agreement has served the Turkish government to compel European powers to support their claims in Syria, and was used again after a Syrian attack in the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib led to the death of three dozen Turkish soldiers.
The new casualties, suffered by Turkey Thursday, have again soured relations between Russia and Turkey, although Moscow assured Ankara that it did not participate in the bombing.
The Russian army also held the command of Turkish forces in the region responsible for having placed troops where it should not have, alongside “terrorist groups” in the Behun area.
The attack by the Damascus forces was aimed at preventing “imminent” bombing by these armed groups, Russian military sources alleged.
“According to the coordinates provided by the Turkish side to the Russian Center for Reconciliation”, “there should be no units from the Turkish armed forces in the Behun area “, underlined a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense this Friday.
“Immediately after receiving information about wounded Turkish soldiers, Syrian troops took comprehensive measures to cease fire,” he added.
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Ankara denies this version and he guarantees that he informed Moscow, through the usual information channels, that he had placed a contingent there.
Another 32 soldiers were wounded Thursday. The attack was the deadliest suffered in the past 30 years by the Turkish army, and brought the total number of Turkish soldiers killed in Idlib to 54 this month alone.
In retaliation, Turkish aviation bombed dozens of Syrian targets, causing an undetermined number of casualties.
In early February, another incident led Ankara to threaten to take the war across Syria, if Assad did not back down.
This Friday, the Turkish government has alerted a Russian delegation, sent for talks, to the need to immediately establish a sustainable ceasefire in Idlib.
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Three Russian frigates
In order to reduce tensions in the area, Turkey demanded that Syrian government forces, backed by Moscow, withdraw to positions determined in the pacification agreement, established between Turkey and Russia in 2018.
Ankara, which has supported armed groups
Sunnis who have been trying to overthrow the Bashar Shiite Syrian government for nine years
al-Assad, and who intends to control the Kurdish-Syrian population of that
area, put a strong contingent in Idlib in 2019, following an agreement with
Moscow, with a view to pacifying the region for humanitarian purposes.
At
Syrian troops, supported by Russian aviation, have since launched a
military offensive that allowed Damascus to recover much of the
Idlib territory, which has led thousands of people to seek
refuge, often in Turkish territory.
Russian delegates returned to Moscow without responding to Turkish demands.
The RIA news agency later quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying a meeting between the Turkish and Russian Presidents will be possible next week, March five or six.
Moscow has meanwhile reinforced its naval presence in support of Damascus, with two frigates equipped with Kalibr missiles.
West tries to avoid escalation
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose country is home to an important Turkish community, condemned this Friday the “brutal attacks” that Turkish forces have suffered in Idlib.
The head of European diplomacy warned for its part of the risk of “international military confrontation” in the Syrian rebel province of Idlib, and called for the containment of Russia and Turkey.
“The continuous escalation (of violence) has to be stopped immediately. There is a risk of falling into a large and open international military confrontation “, warned the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, in a post made on the social network Twitter.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in the region “before the situation is completely out of control”.
Guterres described the recent escalation among Turkish and Syrian troops as “one of the most alarming periods” of the war.
“In all my contacts with those involved, I conveyed a simple message: stay away from an aggravation,” the secretary-general told reporters in New York.
The UN Security Council announced an emergency meeting to try to avoid a declared conflict between Russia and Turkey.
NATO also met urgently in Brussels, at the request of the Turkish Government. The Secretary-General of the Alliance called for an immediate cessation of Russian and Syrian bombing, not to further aggravate the humanitarian situation and expressed “total solidarity” with Turkey.
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The White House issued a joint statement with the President
Turkish, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which they call on Syria and Russia to “stop”
its military offensive in Idlib.
Both
President discussed the latest engagements on the phone and agreed
the need for new measures to deal with the humanitarian drama in
course in Idlib, where recent fighting has forced more than one
million people.
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