18,000

Turkey Says Thousands of Migrants Have Crossed Into Europe

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country could no longer deal with the number of people fleeing Syria’s ongoing civil war.

Some 18,000 migrants have crossed Turkish borders into Europe after the country “opened the doors” for travel because it could no longer deal with the number of people fleeing Syria’s ongoing civil war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Turkey is currently hosting 3.7 million refugees from Syria, in addition to migrants from other countries, including Afghanistan. Earlier this week, Syrian government forces carried out a deadly attack on Turkish troops in Idlib, killing at least 33 soldiers. “We said months ago that if it goes on like this, we will have to open the doors. They did not believe us, but we opened the doors yesterday,” Erdogan said in Istanbul. “We don’t have to take care of this many refugees, to feed them.”