Ankara wants to further relieve the EU of migrants. Now the country is also taking in Ukrainians and Russians. A gesture with a signal effect.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan knows how sensitive Europeans are to the refugee issue. Two years ago, the Turkish President opened the land border with Greece to let Syrians, Afghans and others seeking protection move on to Europe and to put pressure on the EU. Now Erdoğan is about to turn around and promises that Turkey will continue to be a “place of refuge” for refugees. According to experts, the Turkish President of the EU is thus signaling that his country will continue to serve as a “buffer zone” for refugees in the future. Erdoğan wants to repair his relationship with Europe.
Turkey has so far referred to the refugees as “guests”. At some point, these “guests” would go home again, the President promised the Turks in recent years. In addition to around four million Syrians, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have taken refuge in Turkey. According to pro-government Turkish media, around 50,000 Ukrainians and 15,000 Russians have been added since the outbreak of the Ukraine war. No other country in the world hosts so many refugees.