Turkey wants Russia to agree to a new ceasefire for Syria’s Idlib region, near the Turkish border, as Europe braces for another wave of refugees from war-torn Syria.
The most recent ceasefire, reached in January, collapsed as Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, advanced in recent weeks into the Idlib region, Syria’s last rebel stronghold.
Dozens of Turkish troops were killed in an attack in Idlib last week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that he would seek a new ceasefire agreement for Idlib at a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.
The Kremlin, while confirming that Erdogan was scheduled to visit, insisted that Syria’s territorial integrity must be preserved,
alluding to the presence of Turkish forces in the country.
Russia, the strongest backer of the Syrian state, has warned Turkey not to conduct military flights in the Idlib region as the Syrian state enforces a no-fly zone.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces recaptured Saraqeb, a strategic city in the north-western province of Idlib, four days after Turkey-backed rebels seized it, a war monitor said.
The flare-up has sparked fears of a new European migration crisis, after Ankara said its frontiers were open to those who wanted to head to Europe.
After last week’s attacks, Turkey said that it could not support more Syrian refugees, and that the European Union had not provided the help it had promised for some 3.6mn Syrian refugees in the country.
Thousands of migrants have rushed to Turkey’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria since Erdogan’s remarks.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President David Sassoli are to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Misotakis in the border zone to see what additional support could be provided.
The commission is also to hold intensive dialogue with Ankara to discuss “where support might be needed” but noted that there is already an agreement on this issue.
Mitsotakis described the visit as an important statement of support “at a time when Greece is successfully defending EU borders.” Greek police had repeatedly fired tear gas and flash grenades at migrants that have made for the border in the Evros region since Erdogan’s statement, state broadcaster ERT reported. Late yesterday, a video reportedly showing a Syrian refugee being shot by Greek border guards generated outrage on social media.
According to reports, Ahmed Abu Emad, 22, of Aleppo, was fatally shot by a rubber bullet.
A Greek government spokesman dismissed the footage as fake, although there were indications to the contrary and a second video online appeared to show the same events.
EU border agency Frontex has agreed to launch a rapid border intervention to help Greece respond to the heightened number of migrants at its borders, Frontex had said in a statement yesterday afternoon. Once an operational plan for the rapid intervention is agreed with Greece, Frontex is to ask EU states and Schengen-associated countries to provide border guards and other relevant staff from a 1,500-strong rapid-reaction pool.
Apparently seeking to further discourage migrants, Greece announced a 24-hour live-ammunition military exercise in the border zone and on Aegean islands and has suspended the reception of asylum applications for a month, prompting criticism from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). The UNHCR reported that 1,200 migrants had arrived on Greek islands on Sunday and yesterday morning, warning that the suspension of asylum applications is against UN and EU law.
Protesters chant slogans and hold flags during a protest in support of the Turkish army and rebels, in Azaz, Syria, yesterday.
