Turkish, UN officials discuss migration crisis on phone

ANKARA

Turkey’s deputy foreign minister Friday held a phone talk with UN High commissioner for refugees and briefed the organization about the influx of asylum seekers towards Turkey due to the situation in Idlib, Syria.

According to diplomatic sources, Yavuz Selim Kiran said about two million people had been displaced since December 2019 when regime forces mounted the aggression in northern Syria.

Kiran told UN’s Filippo Grandi that Turkey could no longer bear the burden of the migration crisis on its own and the pressure caused asylum seekers residing in Turkey to mobilize towards western and northern territories to cross into Europe.

He condemned the harsh Greek response to asylum seekers, adding such policies did not comply with the Geneva Convention of 1951 or any other international agreements, the sources said.

Kiran recalled the EU provided Athens with over €2 billion ($2.2 billion) for 142,000 asylum seekers, and it pledged additional €700 million financial aid in the wake of the recent developments on the Turkish-Greek border, however it did not pay even half of its €6 billion pledge for Turkey for some 4 million Syrians it has been hosting.

Ankara has repeatedly complained that Europe has failed to keep its promises under a 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.

Grandi, for his part, said the UN always supported Turkey and the international organization closely monitors developments along the Greek border.

Detailed and comprehensive cooperation was essential to resolve the migration crisis, he said.

Turkish officials recently announced they would no longer stop asylum seekers reaching Europe. Since then, over 142,000 of them left Turkey for Europe.

The Greek reaction to asylum seekers was harsh as many were battered and tear-gassed.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas