EU ‘won’t be pressured’ over Greece-Turkey border crisis

Ministers from across the EU met in Zagreb on Friday for a second day of talks on the conflict in Syria’s Idlib province, as well as the build-up of refugees and migrants at Greece’s border with Turkey.

Member states were set to discuss their response to a ceasefire deal involving Ankara and Moscow, and what contribution the EU should make to easing the crisis.

Read more: Are Germany and the EU prepared for a new influx of refugees?

Before going into the meeting, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the agreement meant the bloc could focus on delivering aid and help on the ground. 

«The ceasefire is good news. Let’s see how it works, but it is a precondition to increase humanitarian help for the people in Idlib,» Borrell said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he opposed more aid for Turkey now, due to the «cynical way» Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was using refugees.

«We should not react to the pressure that Turkey is exerting on us by agreeing to more money under pressure,» he said.

Taking in migrants

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday said he and his colleagues would also discuss accepting some migrants at the border with Greece. Maas told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that several EU states were prepared to accept refugees.

Thousands of migrants have massed on the Turkish side of the border with Greece at Pazarkule, after a decision by Ankara to stop preventing them from reaching the EU’s outer border. Greece has said it will protects its frontier and will not allow the migrants in.

Turkey is host to some 4 million refugees, including 3.6 million Syrians, and has said it can no longer contain the refugee influx from Syria. Around 1 million people have been displaced after a military escalation in the Syrian province of Idlib.

At a meeting on Thursday, ministers expressed cautious support for Ankara’s request to establish a no-fly zone in north-west Syria. 

The situation at the border

Julia Hahn, DW’s correspondent on the Turkish side of the border, said journalists had been prevented from getting close to the frontier, with reports that tear gas was being fired by Turkish police.

«There are some reports suggesting that the soldiers there are encouraging the refugees or migrants maybe to use violence to demand passage to Europe. The people we talked to also told us that although they have some access to food and drinks, the temperatures here are particularly difficult. They also told us that there are still thousands there waiting to cross into the European Union.»    

rc/rt (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)

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