“This is a game — Turkey is trying to get more money and Germany is trying to keep the immigrants away, but it seems they don’t try to stop the war in Syria… They did already a lot to create this tragedy in the area, but even now they do not do anything to stop it, politically and [in] some other ways,” Takis Hadjigeorgiou said.
Last week, Brussels pledged up to $3.4 billion in aid, simplified visa procedures and accelerated EU ascension procedures for Turkey in exchange for its cooperation in stemming the unprecedented flow of migrants into Europe. Merkel paid a visit to Turkey over the weekend and said it would support Ankara’s EU bid.
“Turkey supported a lot of people entering the Islamic State,” Hadjigeorgiou stressed.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting several opposition factions and numerous militant groups, including Islamic State and the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The war has sparked a massive refugee crisis that has beset Europe and countries neighboring Syria, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing the violence.
Over 710,000 migrants, a large proportion of whom are Syrians, arrived in the European Union during the first nine months of 2015, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
