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** Europe Must Not Fall Victim to Erdoğan's Blackmail ([link removed])
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by Burak Bekdil • March 6, 2020 at 5:00 am
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gatestoneinstitute.org%2F15682%2Feurope-erdogan-blackmail&pubid=ra-52f7af5809191749&ct=1&title=Europe+Must+Not+Fall+Victim+to+Erdo%C4%9Fan%27s+Blackmail [link removed]
* Turkey would apparently like to see more progress in the talks to grant it admission as a full member of the European Union.... Erdoğan would most certainly like the West overlook his massive democratic deficit, and to help Turkey secure even more dominance over the Greek islands off its coast, as well as its claims on the gas fields beneath the eastern Mediterranean.
* Erdoğan needed to find a non-Russian adversary to attack, to distract Turkish anger away from him and toward a different chosen target. What better target than the EU, with which most Turks have a love-hate relationship? Opening Turkey's border gates and flooding Europe with migrants would be sure to please the average Turk....
* Europe, unfortunately, to protect its liberty and sovereignty, needs to fight back. It must refuse to accept Erdoğan's hostages.... If the first groups in this mini-exodus from Turkey face a serious blockade rather than warm and welcoming locals, potential migrants would be discouraged from taking such a perilous trip. What Greece alone could achieve, without help from the EU, would be limited....

On February 27, the Turkish government finally pressed the button to execute President Erdoğan's threat: Millions of (mostly Syrian) migrants on Turkish soil were now free to travel to Europe; Turkish border gates were now open. Pictured: Migrants at the Turkey-Greece border try to pull down the Greek border fence and enter Greece, near Edirne, Turkey, on March 4, 2020. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has threatened Europe several times with "sending millions of refugees your way." Turkey would apparently like to see more progress in the talks to grant it admission as a full member of the European Union. At the moment, these membership negotiations have stalled. He may also wish for Western support -- from the EU, the United States and all of NATO -- for his ideal architecture to install Turkey in northwest Syria.

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