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#Turkey #Greece #EU
Greek police fire tear gas at migrants on Turkish border | DW News
Migrants in Turkey have rushed to borders with the European Union, after Ankara signaled it was lifting crossing restrictions in a move to pressure NATO into stepping in to help in the conflict with Syria. Turkish officials say 18,000 people have crossed the border since Friday. There have been arrivals by land and by sea along borders with EU members Greece and Bulgaria. Refugee boats have arrived on Greek islands closest to the Turkish mainland, and groups of people have turned up at the land border. But both countries have boosted security at their borders with Turkey, and thousands of migrants are now stuck in no-man's land between the two sides. Turkish officials announced they would no longer stop migrants from crossing into Europe, after dozens of Turkish troops were killed in a Syrian government airstrike in Idlib province. That prompted retaliatory strikes from Ankara against targets in Syria. Turkey's decision to open its border has fuelled fears of a revival of the 2015 migration crisis.