Turkish leaders lash out at demands to open border
Turkey's leaders on Wednesday lashed out at the United Nations and others who are pressing the country to open its borders
AYSE WIETING. and SUZAN FRASER., Associated Press - 10 February 2016 10:58-05:00
KILIS, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's leaders on Wednesday lashed out at the United Nations and others who are pressing the country to open its borders to tens of thousands of more Syrian refugees, accusing them of failing to shoulder the responsibility or to stop Russian bombings that have triggered the exodus.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it began in 2011. In recent days, a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border.
At a news conference with his Dutch counterpart in The Hague, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu labelled the U.N. Security Council and the international community as "two-faced" for telling Turkey to open its borders while not moving "a finger to solve the Syria crisis" or to stop the Russian bombardments.Davutoglu also said the Syrian and Russian military operations were an attempt to drive out people who don't support the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
By taking in the refugees that have fled Aleppo, he said Turkey would be indirectly contributing to what he termed as an "ethnic cleansing." With every refugee that we accept, in a way, we would be contributing to this ethnic cleansing aim," Davutoglu said. "If this is a strategy to change the demography in Syria, then we all have to be vigilant against it."
