Tapsiz said another 70,000 Syrians could arrive at the border if the Russian and Syrian strikes don’t end.
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Walid al-Moallem’s comments capped a week that saw the collapse of the latest U.N-led Syria peace efforts and a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near the city of Aleppo that sent thousands of residents fleeing toward Turkey.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in Geneva this week, one senior Turkish official said his country would never accept a settlement in Syria that doesn’t take into account its own interests.
Turkey kept its Oncupinar border crossing closed on Saturday despite a significant increase in the number of arrivals to the European gateway in the past 48 hours.
Turkey has already let in 5,000 people escaping Aleppo, “and another 50,000-55,000 are on their way”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Amsterdam.
“Any ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorisation would amount to an aggression that must be resisted”, he said at a news conference in Damascus. It is Syria’s largest city and business centre.
An estimated 400,000 people live in the half of the city controlled by various rebel factions that include the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
Forces loyal to President Assad have made a series of important gains in Aleppo province over the past week.
A Syrian man is among the thousands who have fled the fighting in and around the northern city of Aleppo.
“Those (who do so) will return to their countries in coffins”, he said, adding that no ceasefire would be possible unless borders were sealed.
The leader of a prominent rebel group active in northwestern Syria confirmed that government-allied forces were tightening their grip on the northern Aleppo countryside, and that heavy Russian bombing carried on unabated.
Turkey stressed on Saturday afternoon that it is committed to the principle of “open borders” for refugees, although it remains unclear whether the large numbers of people stranded on the Syrian side have been able to cross.
Some 20,000 people displaced by military operations in northern Syria have gathered at the Bab al Salam border crossing with Turkey.
It disrupted a vital opposition supply line from Turkey to the city of Aleppo.
Trucks were seen Friday carrying parts for tents to the refugee camp close to the border gate on the Turkish side.
Asked whether there were any plans to assist U.S.-backed rebels in Aleppo or provide humanitarian aid drops, Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command said: Our fight right now is against ISIL (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria.
While continuing to allow in refugees at border crossings, the Turkish army has been detaining those trying to cross illegally on an nearly daily basis.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect Turkey is making intensive preparations for a military invasion of Syria. If they were humanely cared for in the refugee camps where they initially land in surrounding states, he believes most Syrians would decline to make the risky journey out of the Middle East for Europe. ISIS”, he said. “They’re up against warplanes and surface-to-surface missiles.
“Everyone needs to be aware – this applies particularly to the Assad regime and also to Russian Federation – that a worsening of the humanitarian situation further reduces the chances of success at the political talks” on Syria, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
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Aleppo, which was Syria’s commercial hub before civil war broke out in 2011, is split between government and rebel control.
