Erdogan vows to keep doors open for refugees

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday vowed to allow refugees to travel on to Europe from Turkey which he said can no longer handle new waves of people fleeing Syria’s war. Turkey started allowing Syrian refugees to cross to Greece as a means to pressure European governments over the Syrian conflict after Moscow-backed Syrian forces killed 34 Turkish troops there since Thursday. “What did we do yesterday... We opened the doors,” Erdogan said in Istanbul in his first comments after the deaths of Turkish troops in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. “We will not close those doors ...Why? Because the European Union should keep its promises. Turkey signed a deal with the EU to stop refugees crossing from its borders after a 2015 migrant crisis. The Turkish leader said 18,000 migrants have amassed on the Turkish borders with Europe since Friday, adding that the number could reach as many as 30,000 on Saturday. Turkey, which is already home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, fears more people arriving in the country where there is growing popular discontent against their presence.