Reuters

Russia on Tuesday said that Turkey was trying to push 130,000 refugees from Syria into Greece, the Interfax news agency cited the Defense Ministry as saying.

The two thirds of these refugees - that Turkey is pushing from temporary camps in Syria - are Afghans, Iraqis and Africans, not Syrians, it added. 

[Reuters]

Russia on Tuesday said that Turkey was trying to push 130,000 refugees from Syria into Greece, the Interfax news agency cited the Defence Ministry as saying.

The two thirds of these refugees - that Turkey is pushing from temporary camps in Syria - are Afghans, Iraqis and Africans, not Syrians, it added. 

[Reuters]

European Council President Charles Michel Tuesday called on Turkey to respect a 2016 deal with the European Union in which it agreed to contain the flow of migrants to Europe in exchange for billions of euros in aid.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday urged European Union countries to give more resources and support to Greece as it faces a new wave of migrants and refugees from Syria and other parts of the Middle East.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke with US President Donald Trump over the migration crisis evolving on Greece's borders with Turkey, a statement from the Greek premier's office said on Monday.

Trump, the statement added, "recognized the right of Greece to enforce the law on its borders." [Reuters]

European Union home affairs ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation at the EU's border with Turkey where thousands of migrants are trying to cross into Greece and Bulgaria since last week, three officials said.

The European Union's chief executive, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed sympathy with Turkey over the conflict in Syria on Monday but said Ankara deciding to let refugees and migrants through to Europe "cannot be" the answer.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia on Thursday for a one-day trip, the Turkish presidency said on Monday, amid tensions between Ankara and Moscow over escalating clashes with Syrian government forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.

Greece will not tolerate any illegal entries of migrants through its borders and will increase its border security, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday.
Migrants and refugees started gathering at the Greek-Turkish land border after Turkey warned that it would let out thousands of refugees stuck in the country since a 2016 accord between Ankara and the European Union.

The Turkish economy grew 6 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter and nearly 1 percent in 2019 as a whole, data showed Friday, beating expectations with a strong rebound from recession as it shakes off the effects of the 2018 currency crisis.