Erdogan putting refugees in danger to achieve political, economic gains

Shaimaa Hefzi

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is using the refugees to achieve political and economic gains for his country.

This comes, however, at a time the world faces a huge health crisis against the background of the new coronavirus outbreak.

This is why some people accuse Erdogan of risking the lives of millions of people for the achievement of his political and economic gains.

Erdogan threatens to send millions of migrants to Europe as a way of putting pressure on the continent to help him in Syria. This coincides with Turkish military operations in Syria, which come after the U.S. withdrew its troops from northern Syria.

Blackmail

Around 4 million refugees live in Turkey. Most of these refugees come from Syria. In 2016, Turkey signed an agreement with the European Union to prevent the refugees from crossing into Europe, in return for billions of dollar in aid.

Now, Erdogan wants more than just financial support from the Europeans. He wants Europe to help his policy in Syria.

Thousands of Afghan, Syria, and Iraqi refugees are now congregated at the Turkish-Greece border. Clashes erupted between the refugees and Greek police last week when the refugees tried to break into Greece. Greek police fired teargas. The refugees countered by pelting police with stones. Athens also beefed up security along its border with Turkey.

Dangerous gathering

European states have started applying strict preventive measures along their borders, with the outbreak of the new coronavirus. They apply the same measures to asylum-seekers and refugees.

Around 13,000 refugees are now gathered at the Greek-Turkish border, according to the United Nations.

The Turkish interior minister estimated the number of refugees leaving his country for Greece at 47,000.

Nevertheless, the same refugees are prone to coronavirus infection if Turkey and Greece do not find a way out of the current crisis.