REFUGEE CRISIS: TURKEY WARNS MILLIONS MORE MAY FLEE SYRIA
Turkey has warned the European Union that three million more
refugees could flee fighting in Syria as the EU struggles to manage its biggest
migration emergency in decades.
Around two million refugees from Syria are currently in
Turkey, and tens of thousands of others have entered the EU via Greece this
year, overwhelming coast guards and reception facilities.
EU Council President Donald Tusk told lawmakers Tuesday that
"according to Turkish estimates, another three million potential refugees
may come from Aleppo and its neighbourhood."
- "Today millions of potential refugees and migrants are dreaming about Europe," Tusk said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
- He warned that "the world around us does not intend to help Europe" and that some of the EU's neighbours "look with satisfaction at our troubles."
- Tusk also lashed out at countries for failing to fully respect EU asylum and border rules, naming Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Greece.
- "We have to respect commonly agreed rules," he said, adding that when countries say they intend to flout the laws "they undermine the essence of solidarity and our community."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with senior
officials in Brussels on Monday, and the EU's executive Commission was due to
unveil later Tuesday a memorandum detailing the way the bloc and Turkey plan to
cooperate on migration.
Erdogan has sought European backing for the creation of a
safe haven and no-fly zone in northern Syria, saying that such moves are key to
ending the refugee crisis.
Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann is heading to
the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos with Greece's prime minister to view the
impact of the refugee crisis and tour the facilities set up to handle the new
arrivals.
- Faymann and Greece's Alexis Tsipras are due on Lesbos around mid-day Monday and are to tour the reception center set up to register and process refugees and migrants.
About 400,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this
year, most in small overcrowded boats from the nearby Turkish coast. The vast
majority don't want to stay in the financially troubled country and head north
through the Balkans to more prosperous EU states.
Source: AP
FRANCE URGED TO TAKE IN MORE SYRIAN REFUGEES
The United Nations has called on European nations do more to help the more than two million Syrian refugees who mostly fled to neighbouring countries.
Refugee groups claim France is not living up to its international obligations, while the country promises to accept more people.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Paris.
SYRIAN WOMEN REFUGEES FORCED INTO PROSTITUTION IN TURKISH CAMP
YAYLADAGI, Southern Turkey - Some 400 Syrian women in Boynuyogun camp in the southern Turkish province of Hatay were forced to work as sex workers, Turkish newspaper Aydinlik has reported.
The scandal was disclosed after some 250 of the raped women obtained a positive result on their pregnancy test.
Abdo Aslaner, the owner of the land where the camp is set up, supported by the security personnel and officials of the camp, took the female Syrian refugees out of the camp and forced them into prostitution, according to the report.
Thousands of Syrians living in villages near the border had crossed into Turkey to seek shelter following the launch of an operation by Syrian security forces in border cities and villages to hunt down armed gangs. - After security had been restored in the region, hundreds of Syrian refugees returned to their homes.
- The Syrian military has been conducting an operation to combat armed terrorist gangs responsible for the attacks on protesters, security forces and public places.
Syria has been grappling with months of unrest that has left scores of people dead so far. The opposition accuses security forces of being behind the killings. But the Syrian government blames armed gangs for the violence, saying that the unrest is being orchestrated from outside the country.
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