Government of Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched his political career in 1994 as a moderate Islamist from the municipality of Istanbul supported by the then small Welfare Party of Necmettin Erbakan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Greece to open its borders and allow the migrants to move on to other European countries.

"These people won't stay (in your country), they will move to other European countries," Erdogan said in Istanbul on Sunday. "Why don't you open your gates too, let them go to other countries, and rid yourself of this burden."

There is no doubt that the events unfolding on the Greek-Turkish border at Evros and in the Aegean Sea these days are something completely different to the refugee and migration crisis experienced by Greece and Europe in the past few years.

Amid continuing tensions at the Greek-Turkish land border over a fresh migration crisis, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday added fuel to the fire, saying that he did not want to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the migration deal between Turkey and the European Union needs to be revised. 

Two opposition parties in parliament have welcomed a Turkish-Russian deal that paved the way for the cessation of all military activities in the Idlib province of Syria, with calls for the government to take the necessary measures for the protection of the Turkish troops in the field. 

A ceasefire agreement with Russia for Syria's Idlib province will protect the Turkish borders, lay the groundwork for normalization in the region and ensure the security of the Turkish troops and civilians there, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on March 5.

When Sawsan al-Musawa heard last week that President Tayyip Erdogan had opened Turkey's borders for migrants to cross into Europe,the Syrian mother of four left a refugee camp in eastern Turkey and headed west to the Greek border.

Ankara appears determined to escalate and entrench tensions at the Greek-Turkish border.

It demonstrates that with daily provocations and most recently by deploying 1,000 policemen at the Evros border region in order to "impede the inhuman actions of the Greeks".

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he refused to meet with Greek Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis, citing allegations that Greek police killed at least five migrants on the Turkish-Greek border.

Clashes erupted on the Greek-Turkish border Friday morning, with Greek authorities using tear gas and a water cannon to repulse an attempt by migrants to push through the frontier into Greece, while Turkish authorities fired volleys of tear gas onto the Greek side of the border.