Migrants fleeing war zone in millions
SYRIA
ONE million more people could flee war-torn Syria for Europe in a dramatic escalation of the migrant crisis, it was claimed yesterday.
Turkey is expecting the worsening situation in the country to displace another two million people over winter.
Ankara claimed that half of them were likely to head across its borders into Europe as a result of Russian air strikes in the region.
But the country — which already has more than two million refugees within its borders — was accused of blackmail as it demanded an extra $4.3 billion a year from the EU to cope with the deepening crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised Turkey speedier talks on its aspirations to join the EU in exchange for it sealing its borders and halting the flow of migrants.
She has also pledged to ease visa restrictions on its citizens travelling to the EU, something that has already drawn sharp criticism from member states.
However critics branded any extra cash a “grubby” bribe ahead of the Turkey’s general elections on Sunday.
Germany pledged to support Greece in dealing with the “extraordinary burden” of migrants landing on its shores every day.
More than half a million people have arrived by sea in Greece this year and more than 3200 people have died trying to cross from Turkey.
Meanwhile the main backers of Syria’s warring factions, including for the first time Iran, have gathered for talks billed as a last chance to pull the country back from destruction.
US officials have played down the chances of an early agreement in Vienna on forming a transitional government to pave the way for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s exit.
But, if Secretary of State John Kerry even persuades his Saudi and Iranian counterparts to sit down together at Friday’s main talks session he will have made progress.
Kerry met envoys from two of Assad’s staunchest allies – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov – in their hotels before the negotiations.
“Now it is the right time to bring Iran to the table,” he said, playing down criticism that Tehran ha won a seat at the talks by supporting Assad’s brutal war tactics.
The US and its Arab and Turkish allies have long been at odds with Assad’s backers Russia and Iran over if and when he should step down but the refugee exodus has forced a rethink.