The EU called Turkey’s “unacceptable” threats to release millions of refugees into Europe, a senior EU official told reporters on Friday.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan previously criticized EU countries condemning the Turkish military operation in Syria and threatened to open borders for Syrian refugees.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to use refugees as threats against the EU”, – the official said, commenting on statements from Ankara.
He recalled that, according to agreements between the EU and Turkey on providing assistance to refugees stationed in Turkish territory, the European side allocated the vast majority of the agreed 6 billion euros.
“Our message to Turkey is very clear – we need to stop unilateral military operations in Syria. There are fears that this will undermine the political process and may cause a new flow of refugees”, – the source said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on October 9 announced the launch of Operation “Source of Peace” in northern Syria against the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Islamic State terrorist group. Turkish aviation attacked the city of Ras al-Ain and a number of other Syrian cities on the border of the two countries on the same day.
Later was announced about the start of the ground part of the operation. According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the military, after the start of Operation Source of Peace, attacked 181 targets of Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Media reports of civilian casualties and injuries.