European Union (EU) governments have threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey for attacking Syria. The EU Governments rejected President Erdogan’s threats of ‘opening the gates” and send 3.6 million refugees to Europe if they did not back him.
Operation Peace Spring: Turkey Launches Attack Against Kurdish Forces In Syria
The European Union had already condemned the Turkish offensive but has been infuriated by Erdogan’s threats to send refugees to Europe. “We will never accept that refugees are weaponised and used to blackmail us,” European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, said on Twitter.
Turkey must understand that our main concern is that their actions may lead to another humanitarian catastrophe. And we will never accept that refugees are weaponised and used to blackmail us. President Erdogan’s threats of yesterday are totally out of place.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) October 11, 2019
The EU stands united behind Cyprus in light of Turkey’s new illegal drilling activities off the coast of Cyprus.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) October 11, 2019
“President Erdogan’s threats … are totally out of place.” Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also accused Erdogan of blackmail and said the military operation should immediately end. France proposed economic sanctions on Turkey, a NATO ally, while Sweden’s parliament demanded an EU arms embargo.
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Further piling pressure on Ankara ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday and a summit of EU leaders on Thursday, Cyprus and Greece urged economic sanctions against Turkey over Turkish gas drilling in waters off southern Cyprus.
A senior EU official said the European Union was spending 6 billion euros ($6.63 billion) on supporting the Syrian refugees currently living in camps inside Turkey, adding that “to use this as leverage is totally unacceptable”.
Kurdish Forces Warn Of All-Out-War Against Turkey If Ankara Dared To Attack The Region
Ankara says the aim of its assault in Syria is to defeat the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as linked to militant Kurdish separatists in Turkey. It says it wants to create a “safe zone” to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil and that Europe should pay for it, a plan the EU has rejected outright.
