Turkey
Opens Borders to
Europe; tell 4 Mil. Refugees
to LEAVE WITHIN 72
HOURS - Greece & Bulgaria
Deploy Troops to seal
Borders
20
February, 2020
Turkish
President Recypt Erdogan has ordered the borders of Turkey be OPENED
to allow a human tsunami of four million Syrian Refugees to storm
into Europe.
In
response, Greece and Bulgaria are deploying tens of thousands of
military troops to their respective Borders with orders to SEAL those
borders; NO ONE IN!
In
addition, Greece has deployed fifty (50) of its warships to islands
off its coast, to protect its maritime jurisdiction from Turkish
incursions.
This
is now setting-up a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions.
The refugees began streaming out of Turkey late last night, and are
now being forced away by Greek and Bulgarian troops.
Meanwhile,
Europe is in the early stages of a large outbreak of deadly
Coronavirus, as that sickness spreads worldwide from China. If the
refugees from Turkey are infected, the disease will run rampant among
them, and thus hundreds-of-thousands of them eill grow ill on the
trek toward Europe. Once they get to the Greek and Bulgarian
borders, they will be halted. How many will simply drop dead from
being trapped, with no food, no water, no shelter and no medical
care.
This
action by Turkey's President Recpyt Erdogan, appears to some people,
to be an intentional crime against humanity.
European
Nightmare As
Turkey "Opens The Gates"
On Refugees While
Covid-19
Ravages Nearby Iran
20
February, 2020
As
coronavirus ravages
Iran and
threatens to spread through
the broader Middle East,
potentially hitting refugee and war-torn populations hardest, it
appears Erdogan is now making good on prior threats to "open the
gates" of a flood of refugees on Europe. On Friday top Turkish
officials were quoted
as saying Turkey
has no
choice but to "loosen" its stance on the some 3.4
million refugees it is hosting.
This
was the immediate, and perhaps predictable reaction, to Thursday's
dramatic escalation involving the deaths of some 33
Turkish soldiers in Idlib via airstrike, in the single
deadliest day for Turkey in Syria throughout the entirety of the
war. Widespread
early reports said it was a Russian strike, but in a sign that Ankara
doesn't want to confront the more formidable Russian Air Force, it
has blamed Syrian forces.
Turkey
has announced it has opened its until now sealed border with Idlib
for at least 72 hours, and will
allow unhindered passage of refugees to Europe
Turkey
will open its southwestern border with Syria for 72 hours to allow
Syrians fleeing the pro-government forces' assault free passage to
Europe,
Turkish official sources have told Middle East Eye.
The
decision came after a security meeting chaired by Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara late on Thursday after 33 Turkish
soldiers were killed in Syria's Idlib province.
A
senior Turkish official said on Thursday that Syrian refugees
headed towards Europe would
not be stopped either on land or by sea.
The
European Union is downplaying the fact that crowds of Syrian refugees
have already been seen en route to Greece via land borders as well as
the Aegean Sea.
Buses
in Istanbul were filmed providing transport to refugees and migrants
to the Bulgarian and Greek border
An
EU spokesman was quoted in Reuters as downplaying the potential
"flood" from Turkey
coming:
"I would like to stress that there was no official announcement
from the Turkish side about any changes in their asylum seeker,
refugee or migrant policy," the spokesman for the EU's executive
said.
"So from our point of view the EU-Turkey statement ...
still stands and we
expect Turkey to uphold its commitments."
But
the reality on the ground may quickly prove these words moot:
Al
Jazeera's John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said the situation
was "a
European nightmare" as "the
floodgates [are] being opened".
As
European officials mull whether this is but more of Erdogan's threats
or perhaps an early "taste" of what's to come, or whether
the flood has begun, Greece and Bulgaria have begun taking action,
bolstering patrols along border areas with Turkey.
"Hundreds
of Syrian refugees in Turkey have begun preparing to travel towards
the country’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria after Ankara’s
sudden decision to no longer impede their passage to Europe," The
Guardian reports
early Friday.
"Turkish
police, coastguard and border security officials were ordered to
stand down overnight on Thursday, Turkish officials briefed
reporters," the
report adds.
Greece
appears to be responding by
completely shutting any Turkish border access point to any and all
traffic.
And
further, according to The
Guardian:
"Turkish news agency Demirören showed footage of what it said
was 300 people, including women and children, walking on highways and
through forested land in north-west Turkey towards the EU border
early on Friday.
Syrians,
Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Moroccans were among those in the
group,
it said."
The
WHO is especially
concerned of
an outbreak among refugee populations in war-torn regions of Iraq and
Syria.
"Refugees and
internally displaced populations across Iraq and Syria have been
identified as the
most vulnerable groups in the region,
should the spread of the virus become a pandemic," The
Guardian reports
of recent statements.
"Health
officials in both countries remain under-equipped to deal with such a
a reality that seems more possible with each passing day," the
report added.
Sprawling
and densely packed "tent cities" of refugees along the
border areas of Syria remain the most vulnerable.
Needless
to say, we now have a dual crisis unfolding that's indeed even more
of a "nightmare" for Europe and the world than many could
have predicted: a
refugee flood, borders being opened, and the global threat of
Covid-19.
The
European Union, meanwhile, warned the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, that it expected Ankara to abide by a €6bn (£5.2bn) deal
to stem migration to its member states. Under the 2016 agreement,
Turkey agreed to halt the flow of people to the EU in return for
funds. Turkey currently has about 3.6 million refugees from Syria.
There was alarm in Brussels as footage of hundreds of refugees and
migrants heading for the land and sea borders with Greece was aired
by the Turkish state news agencies.
Turkey’s
decision comes after an airstrike on Thursday night in Syria’s
Idlib province killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers recently deployed
to support the Syrian opposition in the face of a bruising
Russian-backed Syrian government offensive.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/28/tensions-rise-between-turkey-and-russia-after-killing-of-troops-in-syria
U.S.
reviewing options to
assist Turkey after attack in
Syria: Pompeo
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The United States is reviewing options to assist Turkey
after an attack by Russian-backed Syrian government forces killed 33
Turkish soldiers in Syria’s Idlib province, U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo said on Friday.
“The
United States is engaging with our Turkish Allies and reviewing
options to assist Turkey against this aggression as we seek to
prevent further Assad regime and Russian brutality and alleviate the
humanitarian suffering in Idlib,” Pompeo said in a statement.
