Turkey cannot handle a fresh migrant wave from Syria, said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late Sunday and warned the international community once again about the humanitarian disaster in northwestern Idlib.
The president’s statements came amid intensified attacks by the Assad regime and Russia on the de-escalation zone.
“More than 80,000 migrants fleeing the bombings from Idlib have started to migrate toward the Turkish border. In such a case, Turkey will not bear alone the burden of this migration alone," Erdoğan said, speaking at an event at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul.
Erdoğan also warned that European nations will feel the impact of the influx if the violence in the de-escalation zone continues.
"The negative effects of this pressure on us will be an issue felt by all European countries, especially Greece," he warned. He said Europe would inevitably see conditions like the 2015 migrant crisis unless it helped stop violence in the region.
The bloc is wary of any recurrence of the 2015 crisis that sowed bitter divisions among EU states, strained social and security services and fueled support for populist, anti-immigration, euroskeptic and far-right parties.
Turkey has frequently warned the international community of the immanence of a humanitarian disaster and fresh wave of refugees unless actions are taken and the Syrian regime is restrained. Yet, no worthwhile actions have taken place, as airstrikes and artillery continue to target thousands of civilians.
Ankara has also proposed the establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria cleared from all terrorist elements in order to allow for the resettlement of Syrians who have fled to Turkey from war-torn areas. Turkey’s safe zone plan aims to host millions of Syrians in a safe and stable environment.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu yesterday also highlighted that it is unfair to expect Turkey to take on all obligations regarding the issue of irregular migration and refugees.
Speaking to Greece’s To Vima weekly, Çavuşoğlu pointed out that Greece had not been fulfilling its obligations in line with a migration deal signed between Turkey and the EU in 2016, adding that Turkish coast guard officials were doing all they could to prevent a repetition of the irregular migration crisis of 2015.
“It is unfair to expect Turkey to bear the brunt of an international issue such as that of irregular migration and refugees. While Turkey hosts 3.7 million Syrians and we try to control the influx of irregular migration on our eastern borders, it is not possible to accept these claims,” said Çavuşoğlu in response to criticism of Turkey’s efforts on the issue.
Turkey and Greece have been a key transit point for irregular migrants aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution. To reduce the number of illegal migrants on the dangerous Aegean Sea route and to find a solution to the influx of refugees heading to the union, Turkey and the European Union signed an agreement in March 2016. The deal stipulates that Greece is to send migrants held on its Aegean islands back to Turkey. In return, Turkey is to send Syrian migrants it hosts to various European Union countries.
According to the deal, Turkey was also promised a total of 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in financial aid, which was initially planned to be given to the country in two installments to be used by the Turkish government to finance projects for Syrian refugees. Visa freedom for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU was also promised under the agreement.
The deal also pledged an update of the customs union Turkey enjoys with the EU. In return, Turkey took the responsibility of discouraging irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and agreed to maintain suitable conditions for accommodating more than 3.5 million Syrians living in Turkey.
Despite significant developments in the control of migration traffic, the EU has not delivered on its commitments. Similarly, although the first installment of the funding pledged has been provided to Turkey, the EU has yet to fulfill other articles, such as that promising visa-free travel for Turkish citizens and an update of the customs union.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees and is the country that spends the most on humanitarian aid per capita. According to Interior Ministry figures, the number of refugees was 4.2 million in 2017 and has now reached 4.9 million. While 3.7 million Syrians are living in Turkey, more than 415,000 Syrian children have been born in Turkey since the start of the civil war in 2011. Furthermore, Ankara has spent $40 billion for the refugees so far, according to official figures.
Regime attacks in IdlibThe intensification of Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes on southern Idlib since Dec. 16 is causing a new humanitarian catastrophe, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. These displaced Syrians are moving toward the Turkish border and liberated areas, especially to Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch regions, to seek refuge.
Turkey has carried out two cross-border operations west of the Euphrates River – Operation Euphrates Shield launched in August 2016 and Operation Olive Branch in January 2018 – to drive terrorist groups, including the YPG and Daesh, from its borders.
While the country liberated northwestern territories from Daesh, it also prevented the YPG from establishing a de facto autonomous region in Syria connecting Afrin in the northwest to Kobani and Jazeera in the northeast, which Ankara describes as a "terror corridor" posing a grave security threat to its national security.
Since then, Turkey has ramped up efforts to get daily life in these areas back to normal and make local people’s return to the region possible.
At least nine civilians have been killed in Russian airstrikes in Idlib during the last few days. Syrian opposition aircraft monitors said Russian warplanes hit the district of Maarat al-Numan, as well as a number of villages overnight.
“On December 21, 9 people, including a woman and 3 children, were killed, and 31 others were injured, by the Russian and regime airstrikes and artillery shelling #Idlib countryside, 8 of them in a horrific massacre in #Saraqib City and another child in Bdama Town,” the White Helmets civil defense group wrote on Twitter.
Aid agencies have been forced to suspend their work in some areas where hospitals and settlements were heavily targeted. Displaced families lack essential living material such as shelter, tents, beds and blankets, as well as food and water.
The number of regime-occupied villages in Idlib has risen to 26, as another 11 settlements were seized, ignoring peace agreements. The most heavily targeted areas in Idlib are Maarat al-Numan and Saraqib.
Speaking at the Global Refugee Forum that took place in Geneva last week, Erdoğan said: “We shared the causes that force millions of people to leave their country every year and their solutions. I explained to everyone participating at the forum with numbers that this is not an issue of lack of feasibility but a lack of empathy and conscience."
The president also invited European countries to use their energy on preventing massacres in Idlib instead of wasting it on Turkey due to the legitimate steps it took in northern Syria.
Turkish delegation visits Moscow to discuss IdlibAccording to diplomatic sources, a delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal traveled to Moscow on Sunday. It is expected that Syria, Libya and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Turkey visit on Jan. 8 will be on the agenda.
The president had announced on Sunday that a Turkish delegation was going to visit Moscow to hold talks on Syria and Turkey will determine its steps after the talks. Erdoğan added Turkey was doing everything possible with Russia to stop bombardments in Idlib. "We will determine the steps we will take according to the results," he added.
Idlib, home to around 4 million people, is the last opposition enclave in Syria. Erdoğan and Putin reached an agreement in Sochi on Sept. 17, 2018, which envisaged that the cease-fire in the Idlib region was to be preserved with the withdrawal of heavy arms and radicals from the region.
Despite the Sochi deal, the regime, backed by Moscow, intensified its attacks starting on April 26 under the pretext of fighting the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists holed up in Idlib. Since then, the situation has gotten worse, taking more civilian lives with each passing day. The Damascus regime has repeatedly vowed to take back control of the de-escalation zone.
More than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone as the cease-fire continues to be violated. If aggression by the regime and its allies continues, Turkey and Europe face the risk of another refugee influx.
According to Mohammed Hallaj, head of the Response Coordination Group in Idlib, around 205,000 civilians have been displaced in Idlib since the beginning of November as a result of heavy attacks. Saying that regime forces and Russia target hospitals, schools, mosques and civil defense centers, Hallaj added Sunday, "Thereby they try to prevent the return of civilians."
The Syrian Civil War, which broke out in 2011, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 5 million people to flee the country, while more than 7 million are internally displaced.
