ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to allow Syrian refugees to leave Turkey for Western countries unless a so-called “safe zone” inside Syria is established soon.
Erdogan made the threat in a speech to his ruling party officials on Thursday. He also said Turkey was determined to create the safe zone and would do it alone if there’s no deal with the U.S. by the end of the month.
He says Turkey aims to resettle about 1 million out of the 3.65 million Syrian refugees in the safe zone.
Erdogan says: “We will be forced to open the gates. We cannot be forced to handle the burden alone.”
He also added that Turkey “did not receive the support needed from the world” to help it cope with Syrian refugees.
