Turkey sees 70000 Syrian refugees reaching border, ‘won’t close gates,’ says PM

An assault by Russian-backed Syrian government forces around the city of Aleppo has sent more than 30,000 people fleeing to the Turkish border gate of Oncupinar in the past few days, and officials say tens of thousands more could be on the move.

Turkish state media said yesterday at least 33 migrants attempting to reach Greece have drowned after two boats got into difficulties off the country’s coast.

Rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo are still home to 350,000 people, and aid workers have said they could soon fall to the government.

Syrian army troops meanwhile, recaptured another village north of Aleppo on Monday, bringing troops and allied militiamen to within a few miles (kilometers) of the Turkish border. She added that, if Europe wants to prevent smuggling, “we must be prepared to take in quotas of refugees legally and bear our part of the task”.

German chancellor Angela Merkel accused Russian Federation this week of bombing civilians, against a U.N. Security Council resolution Moscow signed up to in December.

Ms Merkel said the bombardment must be “brought to an end quickly”, and promised that Turkey and Germany would push to halt the fighting in Aleppo.

“It’s the first time since 2013 that the Syrian regime has been this close to the Turkish border in Aleppo province”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Ms Merkel faces pressure at home over her “open door” refugee policy that allowed more than a million migrants to enter Germany a year ago.

Mr Davutoglu, whose country is hosting 2.7 million Syrian asylum seekers, said Turkey would take refugees “when necessary”.

Merkel is meeting Davutoglu and other Turkish officials for talks on reducing the influx of migrants to Europe.

The border crossing remained closed for a fourth day on Monday, and aid groups continued to provide assistance to the Syrians massed at a displaced persons camp nearby.

“If Aleppo falls, people will come out in the millions to Turkey wearing nothing but the clothes on their backs”, said Aleppo native Yasser, who declined to give his surname out of concerns for his safety. “Either they will die beneath the bombings… or we will open our borders”.

The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which is providing food for 20,000 refugees, said it had set up a new camp with a capacity of 10,000, in addition to eight it already operates near Bab al-Salama. He is said to have told him: “We have treated you as a prince in Brussels”. “This is what causes refugees”.

Turkey has said it fears the violence in Aleppo could drive up to 600,000 people to its border, in a … He said they will seek the use of Nato’s observation capabilities at the border with Syria and in the Aegean Sea.

Merkel stuck to her insistence that Europe will need to accept “quotas” of refugees arriving by legal channels as part of “burden-sharing”, and that the system needs to be worked out soon. The EU has pledged 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to help improve the condition of refugees.

Turkey has since started to require Syrians arriving from third countries to apply for visas, in a bid to exclude those who aim to continue on to Greece.

Already this year, 374 people have died or are missing, as of February 5, while crossing the Mediterranean, according to data compiled by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).