The move comes in anticipation of a possible new flow of refugees from Syria’s Idlib province, where nearly a million people have been displaced.
Turkey on Thursday stopped stemming migrants and refugees from reaching Europe by land and sea, according to Reuters, citing an unnamed Turkish senior official.
The Turkish official added that police, coast guard and border security officials have reportedly been ordered to withdraw.
The Turkish government has not made an official announcement about the claims yet.
Turkey and the European Union signed a landmark 6 billion euro ($6.6 billion) deal to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe. Terms of the agreement suggest that migrants arriving to the Greek islands would be returned to Turkey if their asylum application is denied by Athens.
The agreement also stated that EU countries should accept one Syrian refugee from Turkey for every returned migrant.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly criticized EU states for not doing enough to provide aid and resettlement for EU-bound migrants.
Source: sputnik
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