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Turkey

Citing Syrian Refugee Influx, Turkey Pushes (So Far In Vain) For Buffer Zone

More than 100,000 Syrian refugees are thought to be in Turkey
More than 100,000 Syrian refugees are thought to be in Turkey
Razi Canikligil

NEW YORK - Turkey intends to keep up its diplomatic efforts to establish a buffer zone in Syria, despite the United Nations’ failure last week to reach a resolution at the Security Council meeting on Thursday.

“How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?" Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asked after last Thursday’s meeting ended in deadlock.

"I was expecting this meeting to produce tangible solutions to the suffering of the Syrian people," he said. "We don't have anything new to say to thousands of Syrians who suffer at the hands of the regime as the UN is entrapped by inaction."

Davutoglu’s remarks come on the heels of a statement he made earlier in the week urging the UN to create a safe haven within Syria. "We will emphasize that this burden now needs to be shared by the whole international community, not just by Syria's neighbors," he said.

If a buffer zone were to be implemented, it would require a UN resolution for a no-fly zone -- a measure that is unlikely to be approved since Security Council members Russia and China consider it a violation of Syria's sovereignty.

The council said that no contingency plan would be ruled out, but at the same time no new details were revealed about when such plans would be considered seriously.

Turkey has seen a mass influx of refugees seeking asylum from the bloodshed in Syria. Ankara said it is now housing as many as 100,000 refugees and cannot handle any more, even as streams of people continue turning up at the border. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees anticipates that the number could soon reach 200,000.

Terrorists training in the camps?

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari also took a stab at Turkey, calling it “Syria’s Executioner.” He accused powers within the Security Council of "promoting imminent military intervention under humanitarian pretexts."

"It is clear that certain states do not see the issue of humanitarian aid in any way other than as part of a biased political agenda," he said.

Following the meeting, he went on to accuse Turkey of training terrorists within the refugee camps and sending them out against the Syrian government with weapons and war tactics.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Belarus May Be Pushing Migrants Into The EU Again — This Time With Russian Help

In 2021, Belarus strongman Lukashenko triggered a migration crisis when he actively drove asylum seekers to the EU. According to the German government, those numbers are on the rise again.

Belarus May Be Pushing Migrants Into The EU Again — This Time With Russian Help

Migrants on the Belarusian side of the Polish border wall in Bialowieza.

Hannelore Crolly, Ricarda Breyton

-Analysis-

BERLIN — In the nine months between July 2022 and March 2023 alone, Germany's Federal Police registered 8,687 people who entered Germany undocumented after a Belarus connection. This has emerged from the Ministry of the Interior's response to an inquiry by MP Andrea Lindholz, deputy chair of the Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group, which was made available to Die Welt.

The migration pressure on the Belarus route — which was now supposedly closed after a huge crisis in 2021 that saw Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko threatening to "flood" the EU with drugs and migrants — has thus increased significantly again.

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"Apparently, about half of the people who enter the EU illegally every month via the German-Polish border enter the EU via Belarus," Lindholz told Die Welt. In an autocratic state like this, border crossings on this scale are certainly no coincidence, she said. "It is obvious that these illegal entries are part of a strategy to destabilize the EU."

In addition to flexible controls at the border with Poland, stationary ones are also needed, said Lindholz. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser should agree on a concrete roadmap with Poland "on how to significantly reduce illegal entries into Germany." Lindholz also called on the German government to revoke landing permits for airlines that facilitate illegal migration via Russia and Belarus.

The Belarus route had already caused concern throughout the EU in 2021. At that time, sometimes highly dramatic scenes took place at the border with Poland. Thousands of migrants tried to enter the EU undocumented — many of them transported there by soldiers or border guards of Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. Poland even feared an attempt to break through the border en masse.

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