Idlib

President Tayyip Erdogan will hold a teleconference on Tuesday with German, French and British leaders to discuss Turkey's standoff with the European Union after it opened its borders to migrants trying to enter the bloc.

Turkish, German, British and French leaders discussed the Syria crisis and migrant issue as well as joint action against coronavirus in a videoconference, the Turkish presidency said on March 17.

Turkish and British defense ministers visited Turkey's southeastern border on March 13 to observe the situation of refugees.
Hulusi Akar and Ben Wallace were in Turkey's border post in Hatay province and observed from an observation tower the refugee situation in Atma.

Turkey's defense minister met with his British counterpart on March 12.

Hulusi Akar received Ben Wallace, who was in Ankara as an official guest, with a military ceremony, according to a statement from Turkey's Defense Ministry.

After the ceremony, Akar and Wallace held a meeting with their delegations.

Turkey's presidential spokesman has called on the European Union on March 10 to take concrete steps and fulfil its promises.

"Turkey fulfilled its responsibilities within the March 18 Turkey-EU agreement," Ibrahim Kalın said on Twitter, referring to the 2016 deal between the EU and Turkey.

Turkey has a long history of conducting extreme operations with its secret services. The most traumatic of these for us was against the Greek minority in Istanbul in September 1955. On August 21, 2013, it was accused of launching a deadly sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb, killing hundreds.

Opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a March 5 cease-fire deal agreed between Ankara and Moscow, suggesting it was Russia that gained an advantage in Idlib province of Syria.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), welcomed the March 5 cease-fire deal for Idlib between Russia and Turkey but warned that Ankara should hit back if the regime violates the truce.

Turkey's military will patrol to the north of a security corridor being set up around a highway in northwest Syria's Idlib province and Russian forces will patrol the southern side, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 10.

Turkish Ambassador to France İsmail Hakkı Musa on March 9 met with French Minister of State for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin and discussed Turkey's relations with the European Union, the migration crisis and developments in Syria's Idlib province.