While tens of thousands of people fleeing the fierce fighting of a Russian-backed regime offensive in Syria huddled in makeshift camps and hoped to get across the border into Turkey, just a handful were lucky enough to make the crossing. “Either they will die beneath the bombings and Turkey will… watch the massacre like the rest of the world or we will open our borders”.
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Turkey and Germany discussed the situation in the South Caucasus during a meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Ankara, Turkish TRT Haber channel reported February 8.
The Turkish deputy premier said Ankara has reached the end of its “capacity to absorb” refugees.
Ankara, which has already taken in an estimated 2.7 million Syrian refugees, is under pressure to prevent migrants continuing across the Mediterranean to Europe while also being urged to open its doors to another batch of arrivals.
Many refugees are reportedly sleeping in fields and on roads.
“It’s the first time since 2013 that the Syrian regime has been this close to the Turkish border in Aleppo province”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor.
“They are hitting any vehicles that are on the move, they are hitting aid trucks”, he added.
After five years of war and a quarter- million dead, President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies now have the upper hand in Syria, and they’ve seeking to drive home a growing battlefield advantage rather than negotiate.
Merkel added that she had been “not just horrified, but outraged” by Russian bombing in the city of Aleppo, where Syrian government forces backed by Russian aircraft are engaged in a new offensive to wipe out opposition groups.
Rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo are still home to 350,000 people, and aid workers have said they could soon fall to the government.
While delivering speech at a joint press-conference following the meeting, Davutoglu said that stability in the region is one of the most important issues for Turkey. “Unless this is reopened, you will see Aleppo falling day by day into a similar situation as in Madaya and Ghouta and you will see a deepening humanitarian crisis”, he said.
Despite claiming the country has an “open border policy”, the Turkish government has had most of the crossings along the border closed for refugees for about a year.
The International Organization for Migration says 374 refugees and other migrants have died so far this year while trying to reach Greece. “It advances in open areas and cuts off communication lines held by rebels, who then fall apart”, Balanche told AFP.
At least 22 migrants drowned after their boat capsized in the Aegean sea off the Turkish coast on Monday, suggesting the exodus shows no sign of abating.
Opposition factions north of Syria’s second city Aleppo have been increasingly stuck “between the pincers” of YPG forces on one side and pro-government fighters on the other, a military source told AFP.
“We have always considered and continue to consider that comments from the chief administrator of an global organisation… should remain impartial and objective”, it said. “It is clear that the Russians are aiming for the encirclement and to lay siege to Aleppo as has happened in other parts of Syria”.
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Regime troops advanced Sunday towards the rebel town of Tal Rifaat, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Turkish frontier, a monitoring group said.
