Turkish FM says warning to EU over refugees ‘not a bluff’

Turkey's warnings that it will allow millions of Syrian refugees to head West if the European Union continues to consider sanctions over military operations in Syria and hydrocarbon drilling off Cyprus is "not a threat and it is not a bluff," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Germany's Deutsche Welle.

"We have given a home to Syrian refugees in Turkey for years, and we guarantee Europe's safety in every sense of the word - and yet we get this reaction from Europe?" Cavusoglu said in an interview published on Saturday, responding to threats of sanctions from Brussels and arms embargos from several European states.

"That is 3.6 million Syrians, and more than 4 million total refugees. So far, the Turkish state has spent over $40 billion and the EU has not given us the support we need. And now you do not want to help the people who want to return. The Syrians want to...