‘No change’ in Turkey’s migrant policy, Aksoy says

Amid reports that hundreds of migrants were walking through northwest Turkey toward its borders with Greece and Bulgaria following an escalation of tension in Syria, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Friday that Ankara has not changed its migrant policy.

“There is no change in our country's policy towards refugees and asylum-seekers, which is hosting the most refugees in the world,” Aksoy said.

He acknowledged that developments in Idlib, which have led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, had increased the migrant pressure on Turkey adding that “some asylum seekers and immigrants in our country, who are concerned about the developments, started to move towards our Western borders.”

“If the situation worsens, this risk will continue increasingly,” he said.

An unnamed senior Turkish official had earlier told Reuters that Ankara would no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe.