Erdogan accuses Europe of ‘trampling’ on refugees’ rights, demands help in Syria

European states must support Turkey’s “solutions” in Syria if they want to resolve the migration crisis, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, accusing Europe of “trampling” on refugees’ rights. “If European countries want to resolve the issue, they must support Turkey’s efforts for political and humanitarian solutions in Syria,” Erdogan said in a televised speech.

“All European countries closing their borders to refugees today, trying to push them back by hitting them and sinking their boats, in fact even shooting at them, are trampling over the universal declaration of human rights,” AFP quoted the president as saying in Ankara. Erdogan also criticized the Greek response to the crisis.

Turkey is home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees and many other migrants. EU countries are expected to offer more money to Greece for border policing and for humanitarian aid to Syria’s Idlib, in an effort to avert a mass influx of migrants.