3 Million More Refugees Could Flee Syria — EU Council President

“Many people are telling us that they are going back to Syria to sell their property to get the funds they need to make the journey to Europe”. “Turkey is absolutely a key partner in this project”. The Commission will come to its aid, ‘ European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament before he unveiled the proposals on Tuesday.

But the Turkish leader insisted that his country was bearing the brunt of the problem, with around two million Syrian refugees on its territory, and pressed Brussels to do more to tackle “terrorism”. The draft action plan was aimed to address the current refugee crisis situation in two ways: by supporting the refugees and their host communities in Turkey, and by strengthening cooperation to prevent irregular migration flows to the European Union, Xinhua reported.

EU President Donald Tusk, who has led calls to better secure Europe’s external borders, said that according to Turkish estimates, another three million potential refugees may yet arrive from the Syrian city of Aleppo and surrounding areas.

Syria experts in the US say it’s not surprising that Jordan is closing its borders, considering the likelihood that the refugee flow will continue for years to come, potentially overwhelming Jordan’s ability to absorb them.

In Germany, the parliamentary leader of the Greens party, Anton Hofreiter, warned in comments to the ARD broadcaster against striking a “dirty deal” with Turkey under which “Erdogan takes the bulk of refugees, and in return we close both eyes” to human rights abuses.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has warned Moscow that under Turkey’s rules of engagement, its fighters are allowed to shoot down any warplane operating in Syria that violates Turkish airspace.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 265 refugees over a 24-hour period, the military said Tuesday. By accepting the plan and implementing it, Ankara “would also contribute to accelerate Turkey’s fulfilment of the visa liberalization roadmap benchmarks”, the text said, referring to Ankara’s long-held desire to smooth travel for its citizens.

Speaking after the discussions in Brussels, Erdogan said Turkey was bearing the brunt of the crisis and pressed the bloc to act against “state-sponsored terrorism” in its war-torn neighbor.

How is migrant crisis dividing European Union countries?

The commission has written to Hungary asking it to clarify its controversial migration policies, Vice President Frans Timmermans said on Tuesday. Lebanon meanwhile is hosting well over 1 million and with a population of just over 4 million, there are 232 Syrian refugees for every 1000 people in the diminutive nation.

But Greece and Italy have also been accused of letting migrants move on without proper registration and of dragging their feet on establishing refugee screening centres.