Syria crisis fallout spills over into migrant clashes on EU border

Greek police fired teargas to push back hundreds of stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the border from Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union's doorstep.

Greece, which has tense relations with Turkey, accused Ankara of sending the migrants to the border post in an organized "onslaught" and said it would keep them out.

A migrant stands during clashes with Greek police, at Turkey's Pazarkule border crossing with Greece's Kastanies, in Edirne, Turkey, February 29, 2020. /Reuters

Turkey said on Thursday it would stop keeping hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in its territory after an air strike on Idlib in neighboring Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday some 18,000 migrants had already crossed from Turkey into Europe. Speaking in Istanbul, he did not provide evidence for the number but said it would rise.

Convoys of people appeared heading toward the land and sea borders of Greece, which was a gateway for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into Europe in 2015 and 2016.

"They (the migrants) didn't come here on their own. They are being sent away and being used by (our) neighbor, Turkey," Greek Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis told reporters near the northern Greek border town of Kastanies.

"Greece... faced an organized, mass and illegal attempt to violate its borders and it withstood this attempt," government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, adding that by Saturday morning authorities had prevented more than 4,000 people from entering Greece.

The crisis is the first big policy test for Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was elected in July and promised a tougher stance on immigration.

A migrant covers his face as tear gas floats in the air during clashes with Greek police, at Turkey's Pazarkule border crossing with Greece's Kastanies, in Edirne, Turkey, February 29, 2020. /Reuters

Turkey hit back at the Greek accusations.

"Look who's lecturing us on international law! They're shamelessly throwing tear gas bombs on thousands of innocents piled at their gates," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted, along with pictures of hundreds of people sitting outside the Greek border post.

The European Union said it was supporting Greece – and its neighbor Bulgaria, which also shares a border with Turkey – in protecting the bloc's borders, but also sought to placate Ankara.

It expressed its condolences with Turkey over the deadly Idlib strike in a statement and said the bloc was ready to step up humanitarian support.

Nearly one million refugees and migrants crossed from Turkey to Greece's islands in 2015, but that route all but closed after a EU-Turkey pact in March 2016. Under the deal, Ankara had agreed to help stem the flow of migrants crossing into Europe in return for billions of euros in EU aid.

(With input from agencies)