Aller au contenu principal

Rapid Assessment Report: Edirne, Pazarkule Border Gate Area, Turkey, 1 March 2020

Pays
Türkiye
+ 1
Sources
STL
Date de publication

Situation overview / First observation

34 Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 30 were wounded in Syria's Idlib province on Thursday night in an aerial attack by Russian-backed Syrian regime forces. Same night, a security summit chaired by the Turkish president held in the presidential complex in Ankara and Turkey's communications director Fahrettin Altun said “The migrants were now also Europe and the world's problem”. He said “Turkey had "no choice" but to relax border controls because it had not received enough support in hosting about 3.7 million Syrian refugees.” Turkish police, coastguard and border guards were ordered to stand down. Thousands of refugees in Turkey began arriving at the country’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria on Friday after Ankara suddenly indicated it would no longer block their passage to Europe. President Erdogan said on Saturday Feb 29th that Turkey would not stand in the way of refugees and migrants already in the country who hope to head to Europe. “We will not close the gate to refugees,” he said. “The European Union has to keep its promises. We are not obliged to look after and feed so many refugees.” Turkish Interior Minister said on Sunday morning that ‘’the number of refugees left Turkey over Edirne province is 76.358 as of today.’’ A rapid assessment team of STL has moved to Edirne on Sunday, March 1st. STL team has observed Pazarkule border Gate area, talked with humanitarian actors and interviewed refugees.