Erdogan using refugee card yet again to blackmail Europe

Nahla Abdelmonem

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will possibly use the refugees as a card to blackmail European countries in the coming period.

This is especially true with the Turkish president suffering numerous internal crises, stepping up his military violations in other countries, including in Syria and Libya, and running into confrontations with the navies of other European countries, such as France.

Erdogan uses the refugees to extort financial and political gains from Europe. He uses the same card in putting the lid on European anger at the provocative policies of his country, ones that harm the interests of European states in the most part.

Erdogan is running into troubles with Greece and France. Turkey is also running into a potential confrontation with Italy because it prevents the Italian state-owned company, Eni, from exploring gas off the coast of Cyprus.

Renewed threat

Ankara threatened on June 30 to use the refugees as a pressure card against the Europeans once more.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused European states of failing to honor their commitments to his country as far as the refugees file is concerned.

Cavusoglu’s remarks coincided with the 4th Brussels meeting on Syria and the Middle East.

Turkey also accused Greece of denying the refugees entry and sending them back to the sea.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias countered by accusing Ankara of exacerbating the refugee crisis by using the refugees politically.

This exposes the refugees to hardships, Dendias said, noting that his country abides by all international efforts for settling the Syrian crisis.

Timing

On July 3, Radio Monte Carlo gave an insight into the reasons why Turkey is using the refugee card now.

The radio said Ankara is afraid that European states would put pressure on it because of its violations in Libya, during a conference on the Libyan crisis on July 9.

It added that the Turkish blackmail casts its shadows on the decisions the meeting will take, including France’s pursuit to get those meeting to condemn Turkish interference in Libya.