The European Commission has called on Turkey to move refugees and migrants away from the Greek border as part of measures aimed at ‘relieving the pressure’ and paving the way for the resolution of the crisis.

President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission made the plea during a news conference ahead of a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece in the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Monday.

The events at the Greek-Turkish border clearly point to politically motivated pressure on the EU’s external border. Finding a solution to this situation will require relieving the pressure that is put on the border, and ensuring that the individual right to ask for asylum is respected, von der Leyen said at the presser.

Last week, Erdogan announced that Ankara had no plans to stop the flow of migrants into the European Union, warning that millions of refugees will soon be moving toward Turkey’s borders with the EU.

Ever since, over 1,700 migrants have landed on the Greek island of Lesbos and four other Aegean islands from Turkey, adding to the 38,000 who are already crammed into overstretched refugee centers there.

Turkish officials say Erdogan has ordered the coast guard to prevent refugees from crossing the Aegean Sea due to the risks.

Greek border police have in turn clashed with refugees amassed at the country’s eastern border, using tear gas and water cannons to stop the flow.

Last month, Turkey relaxed curbs on the migrants’ movement through its borders.

Under an agreement struck between Ankara and the EU in 2016, the Turkish government was committed to stop the refugee influx in exchange for financial assistance from Europe.

Ankara complains that funds promised by the EU to help it deal with the 3.7 million Syrian refugees already in the country have been slow to arrive. Turkey’s government had warned in the past that it would open the floodgates if it did not receive more funding.

The massing of migrants has caused fears of a repeat of the 2015 European migrant crisis, in which more than one million people crossed into Europe, most of them fleeing conflict zones in West Asia and North Africa.

SOURCE: PRESS TV