This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
Published on December 23, 2019, tens of thousands of Syrians have fled towards the Turkish border following heightened regime and Russian bombardment of the Maaret al-Numan region since December 16.
Idlib, a region dominated by jihadist groups, hosts approximately three million people, including many displaced by violence in other parts of Syria. The Damascus regime has repeatedly vowed to take back control of the province.
Turkey's President Erdogan has expressed concerns that his country cannot handle a new refugee wave from Syria, citing that over 80,000 people from Idlib have already fled to areas near the Turkish border.
"Turkey cannot handle a new refugee wave from Syria," Erdogan said, adding that if the flow increased, "Turkey will not carry this migration burden alone".
He warned that the negative effects of this pressure on Turkey would be felt by all European countries, especially Greece, and that Europe would experience the same scenes as the 2015 refugee crisis, when over a million people fled to Europe.
As part of the 2016 Turkey-European Union migration deal, the EU promised Ankara six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in exchange for stronger controls on refugees leaving its territory for Europe. Erdogan has previously claimed that not all of that money arrived.
Turkey is home to around five million refugees, among which 3.7 million are Syrians. Despite being on opposing sides of the Syrian civil war, Turkey and Russia have worked closely to resolve the conflict.
Erdogan also announced that a Turkish delegation would go to Moscow on Monday for talks with their counterparts as part of Turkey's efforts to end the attacks in Idlib.
