The statement by the Turkish authorities on the refugee situation is similar to blackmail, the purpose of which is to force the West to jointly rescue militants in Syrian Idlib, Elena Panina, member of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, spokesman for the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party, Omer Celik, stated that Turkey remains committed to its migration policy, but it is no longer able to restrain the flow of refugees from Syria.
According to Panina, the support of the militants from the Turkish troops does not bring Turkish President Recep Erdogan anything good and Turkish intervention boomerang in Ankara.
“In this situation, Erdogan has no choice but to blackmail the EU and intimidate him with a stream of refugees in order to force European leaders to subscribe to the agenda of the“ humanitarian catastrophe ”and rescue militants in Idlib,” she said.
At the same time, the parliamentarian believes that such tactics are unlikely to bring Erdogan success.
The heads of state and government of the EU member states in mid-March 2016 agreed with Turkey a joint plan to combat the migration crisis. It provides, in particular, the provision of financial assistance to Ankara to receive refugees, the return to Turkey of all illegal immigrants who arrived in Greece from Turkish territory, and the reception by the EU of legal Syrian migrants from Turkey on a one-by-one basis.
The situation in Syrian Idlib escalated after the February 27 terrorists “Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham” * (banned in the Russian Federation) launched a large-scale attack on the positions of the Syrian government forces. The SAR army returned fire. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Turkish military, who should not have been there, was also shelled.
As a result, 33 soldiers of the Turkish army were killed, more than 30 people were injured. Immediately after receiving information about the injured Turkish military, the Russian side took measures for a complete ceasefire by the Syrian forces, and the safe evacuation of dead and wounded Turkish troops in Turkey was ensured. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation emphasized that aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces was not used in this area.
* Terrorist organization banned in Russia