Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during a visit to Brussels on Monday 9 March, called for more NATO and EU assistance to his country regarding the situation in Syria.
“The crisis originating in Syria, with its security and humanitarian aspects, threatens our region and indeed the whole of Europe”, Mr Erdoğan stressed during a press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “No European country has the luxury of remaining indifferent to the conflicts and the humanitarian tragedy in Syria”, he added.
The Turkish President reiterated the need to “increase efforts on the Syrian question more than ever”, recalling that his country is expecting “concrete support from all [its] allies in the struggle that Turkey is waging alone”. According to him, NATO, which is at “a critical juncture”, should “clearly demonstrate the solidarity of the Alliance”.
In response, Mr Stoltenberg reiterated that the Alliance would continue to support Turkey through a series of measures, including defensive missile systems and an air and naval presence. “The Allies are also ready to continue to support Turkey, and we are looking at what more we can do”, he said. According to the US Special Envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, “everything is on the table” in terms of possible support.
While Mr Erdoğan did not make a statement in this regard at the end of the summit with EU leaders (see separate news item), the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said on the same day that the issue of security in the region, particularly in Syria, had been raised. According to him, the meeting was an opportunity to “highlight the very great humanitarian concern we have in Idlib, as well as on the border between Turkey and Syria, and the possible mobilisation of the European Union to try to provide support in this area”. Last week, the EU announced new aid of €170 million for Syria, of which €60 million is for the Idlib region.
In Brussels on Tuesday 10 March, Mr Jeffrey said his country is working with the EU and NATO on security, humanitarian, economic, and diplomatic measures that could be taken to ensure that the ceasefire in Idlib becomes sustainable and to move towards a political solution to the Syrian crisis. “For now, we are focusing first on the humanitarian disaster, which has caused the exodus of some 3.5 million refugees or internally displaced persons from across half of Idlib province, many of them very close to the Turkish border, who may cross and destabilise Turkey and possibly head for Europe if the ceasefire does not hold”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)