Turkey will play a very important role in preventing the illegal crossing of irregular Afghan migrants to Europe, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday.
Speaking to the Spanish state-owned public radio broadcaster RNE, Borrell evaluated the latest situation in Afghanistan and the European Union's stance on the issue.
"When we see the images on the first day at Kabul (Hamid Karzai International) Airport, we understand what they risked to leave the country," he said, referring to the Afghan citizens who fled the country following the Taliban's capture of the capital Kabul and the administration of the war-torn country.
"There has already been an Afghan migration for the last three months. They are and will be coming to Europe via Iran, Iraq or the Eastern Mediterranean. This shows that we need to work hard with transit countries. The humanitarian crisis must be prevented. Here, Turkey will play a very important role. There will be many people who will try to pass through Turkey, but this is a concern for the future, not the present. What is important right now is that Kabul airport starts to function," he explained.
Regarding the situation in Afghanistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sunday: “In Turkey, we are facing a wave of Afghan migrants through Iran,” adding that they will continue to make every effort to help bring stability to Afghanistan and the region.
Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum-seekers attempting to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Concerns have risen over a possible spike in refugees from Afghanistan due to the U.S. pullout from the country after two decades and the following surge of Taliban attacks.
Turkey has deployed additional reinforcements to its eastern border with Iran and new measures are expected to be applied. Border security will be supported by technological systems.
Turkey has made clear that it will not bear the burden of the migration crises experienced as a result of the decisions of third countries.
Turkey hosts nearly 4 million refugees – more than any country in the world. After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey adopted an “open-door policy” for people fleeing the conflict, granting them “temporary protection” status.
Afghans are believed to be the second-largest refugee community in Turkey after Syrians. Many of the migrants arriving via Iran are heading for Istanbul to find work or passage to another coastal city from which to embark for Europe.
Pointing out that the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan is the West's failure, Borrell also said: "What happened in Afghanistan is a defeat for the Western world. We must have the courage to see and recognize this with all its clarity."
Stressing that the EU's statement that it had to meet with the Taliban surprised some, Borrell said: "We have to talk to them. If we don't talk to those who take control of Kabul, we cannot open a way for airport security."
Borrell stated that they are evacuating those Afghan citizens who are facing an immediate danger to their lives due to their help and cooperation with the EU countries as a duty and responsibility.
Stating that the EU representative in Afghanistan is still in this country, Borrell stated that although limited, military planes connected to the EU have started flights again at the Kabul airport, which is under the control of the Taliban.
U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the American military to withdraw from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the U.S. by Afghanistan-based Taliban-backed al-Qaida.
The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.
It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the United States and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan.
