Erdogan vows to keep border open for refugees until EU meets all demands

ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he would keep Turkey’s border open for refugees until the EU had met all his demands, while comparing Greece’s response to the crisis to the Nazis.

"Until all Turkey’s expectations, including free movement, ... updating of the customs union and financial assistance, are tangibly met, we will continue the practice on our borders," he said in a televised speech.

Turkey’s decision at the end of February to re-open its border for refugees sparked a row with Brussels, as well as harsh exchanges with Greece. Greece has tear-gassed thousands of migrants trying to break through and been accused of beating and stripping migrants of their belongings if they made it across the border.

"There is no difference between what the Nazis did and those images from the Greek border," Erdogan said. Greece has denied using violence and accused Turkey of pushing desperate people into dangerous attempts to enter Europe.

Erdogan said he opened the gates in order to pressure Europe into providing greater assistance with the Syrian conflict, where Turkey has fought to push back a regime offensive on the last rebel stronghold of Idlib.

"With the warming of the weather in the spring, the influx of irregular migrants heading to Europe will not be limited to Greece but spread all over the Mediterranean," he warned. But he reiterated that Turkey hopes for a fresh agreement with Brussels ahead of the next EU leaders’ summit on March 26.

Turkey already hosts some four million refugees -- most of them Syria -- and fears another mass influx as the regime, backed by Russia and Iran, pushes to retake Idlib.

Although Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed a ceasefire for the province last week, previous deals have proved temporary and the Turkish president said Wednesday that minor violations have already been reported.

Turkey agreed to stop migrant departures under a 2016 deal with Brussels, but says it has not received all of the six billion euros promised, nor have several other demands been met, including enhanced trade and visa arrangements.Responding to Erdogan’s latest comments, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said: “He is constantly trying to torpedo the climate with such statements.”

“We tell everyone that they shouldn’t attempt to get in through the window. There is a door. Whoever is entitled to protection should knock on that door and be entitled to protection based on international law,” Petsas added.

Petsas also denied a report in The New York Times that said Greece was holding illegal migrants at a secret “black site” where they are denied access to lawyers and cannot file asylum claims.

Greece summoned Turkey’s ambassador on Wednesday to lodge a complaint after the Greek coastguard said one of its vessels had been rammed deliberately by a Turkish coastguard boat.

There was no immediate comment from Ankara on the incident.The EU is desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2015-16 migrant crisis, when more than one million people, mostly fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, reached the bloc via Turkey and Greece, bolstering support for far-right parties.

That mass influx ended when Turkey agreed in 2016 to keep migrants on its territory in return for EU aid.

Erdogan said Ankara had upheld its side of the deal but that the EU had not.“Until all expectations are met in a concrete way, we will continue our current practice at our borders,” Erdogan said, referring to aspirations that also include updating Turkey’s customs union with the EU, reviving its stalled EU accession bid and allowing Turks to visit the bloc without visas.Turkey hosts 3.6 million refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria and is braced for the arrival of more as fighting in Syria drags on.