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European Leaders Videoconference Over Refugee Crisis, Coronavirus

Dorian Jones

   ISTANBUL/TURKEY - Turkish, French, German and British leaders met by
   videoconference Tuesday to commit themselves to joint actions on the
   Syrian refugee crisis and coronavirus pandemic.

   The last-minute conference due to the COVID-19 outbreak replaced an
   Istanbul summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French
   President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British
   Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

   "We have the opportunity to undertake comprehensive assessments on many
   issues up, from EU-Turkey relations to the asylum issues," tweeted
   Erdogan after the meeting.

   Few details on the nature of the cooperation agreed between the leaders
   have been released.

   The video summit is in response to Erdogan sparking a crisis by opening
   Turkish frontiers with European Union members to migrants and refugees
   living in Turkey. Turkey hosts nearly 4 million Syrians and Erdogan
   insists his country can no longer cope.

   In 2015, Ankara made a similar move, resulting in more than one million
   people fleeing to neighboring Greece and Bulgaria, sparking a refugee
   crisis across Europe.

   The exodus spurred the EU's agreement on a 2016 migration deal with
   Turkey. Ankara then secured its borders, markedly curtailing migrants
   entering Europe.

   The threat of a new refugee exodus into Europe is widely seen as
   Erdogan's most important leverage over the European leaders.

   "In the past, Europe panicked, especially Germany, with the threat of
   Turkey opening its borders to refugees, and they tried to appease
   Turkey," said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.

   However, both Greece and Bulgaria, strongly backed by Brussels,
   robustly resisted the latest mass movement of migrants into their
   countries, following Erdogan opening Turkey's borders.

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