Amsterdam, 08/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 6 February, the European foreign affairs ministers called on Turkey to respect international law and to host the thousands of refugees fleeing the attacks on Aleppo by the regular Syrian army supported by Russian aviation. On Monday 8 February, these calls (still) had had no effect, despite the Turkish promises. Some 30,000 people are reportedly piling up at the border between Turkey and Syria, which is still closed.
“We reminded” Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu “that there is, if not a moral obligation, at least a legal obligation of non-refoulement, to protect those who need international protection. It is undeniable that the people coming from inside Syria are Syrians who need international protection”, said High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini at the press conference of the informal meeting in Amsterdam of foreign affairs ministers from the EU and its candidate countries, including Turkey. The meeting discussed the refugee crisis and Mogherini stated that the €3 billion pledged by the EU to Turkey was intended to guarantee that Turkey has the means, instruments and resources to protect and host people in search of asylum.
While stating that he understood the security issues, the Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders said at a press conference that “the principle of non-refoulement for these people who are fleeing the awful bombing must be a priority”. “We must ask Turkey to open its border when there is pressure such as that we are seeing now with the refugees coming from Aleppo”, his Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders, told a few journalists, including from EUROPE. Reynders added that the €3 billion could be used to host these refugees in good conditions. “There is an obligation to host them. We cannot leave people who are in a situation of major risk”, he added.
Turkey does not want to bear the whole burden alone. On Saturday, Cavusolgu said that his country was maintaining “this open border policy for the people fleeing the (Syrian) regime's aggression as well as the Russian airstrikes”. “We have already welcomed 5,000. There are 50,000 to 55,000 others who are still on their way and we cannot leave them there alone because there are ongoing airstrikes and the regime's forces, supported by Iranian Shi'ite militia, are still attacking civilians”, he added.
On Monday 8 February, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also said that his country would “of course, as always, come to the need of (its) Syrian brothers and accept them when it was necessary”. During a press conference with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, he nevertheless warned that Turkey, which is already hosting 2.7 million Syrians, could not support “the whole burden” alone of hosting the refugees (see other article). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)