Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has publicly admitted to wanting to annex Syrian territory. After a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump yesterday evening, Erdoğan today told Istanbul AKP members of parliament: "We have no intention of leaving Syria until the Syrian people say 'it's over'".

Erdoğan continued to threaten Europe with refugees and said that the borders would remain open. "What did we do yesterday? We opened the doors. In the morning, there were about 18,000 people pushing and overcoming the crossings. But today it will probably be 25 to 30,000."

Erdoğan further said that he had spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "I called Merkel again, she said the money is ready. However, this money does not reach us. Now, I said, we will send you the refugees here, we will not accept these 25 million euros, we will give you 100 million euros. Merkel didn't accept it, of course."

Organised bus transfers to the border

From Istanbul bus station in Esenler there is currently a bus to the western border province of Edirne every five minutes. Since Friday morning, thousands of people have arrived at the border with Greece and Bulgaria. From other cities in Turkey, bus trips are organized by AKP-led local municipalities, governorates and government-related institutions.

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