Turkey considers it impossible to take in more refugees

“It is impossible for Turkey to take in more refugees,” said Naci Bostancı, the deputy speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, on Friday in response to questions about the latest events in Afghanistan, the pro-government news site Daily Sabah reported.

“Our concern is returning our existing migrants when the appropriate conditions are met,” he said. “This is Turkey’s general attitude. Turkey cannot act as a transit route. No one can make plans about Turkey.”

Bostancı also clarified that Turkey does not have any plans to establish migrant camps for displaced Afghans.

“There are already enough refugees in Turkey,” he said. “There is a migration movement due to the developments from Afghanistan. But what size is it, what kind of activity is there? The evaluations about it are speculative. As far as we can observe, there are a certain number of evacuations by planes via Kabul Airport. Then there are people who pass through countries, illegally, by land.”

Bostancı also pointed out that Turkey is building a wall along its border with Iran, where migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan travel to reach Turkey. Turkey’s neighbour Greece is also building a barrier to limit the inflow of migrants.

The Taliban swiftly overran most of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, this month ahead of the scheduled Aug. 31 withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition troops.

“Talks were held between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Iranian Ministry of Interior to ensure border security,” Bostancı said. “There is a very high degree of precaution at the borders. When Afghan immigrants enter Turkey, they are sent back to the country they entered from. This is Turkey’s position at the moment.”

He echoed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent stance that Turkey will not become “Europe’s refugee warehouse.”

Migrants leaving Afghanistan and elsewhere, due to war or poor economic situations in their countries, often migrate to Turkey, either seeking work to send remittances home or, ultimately, to make it to Europe. Turkey already hosts almost four million Syrian refugees along with hundreds of thousands of migrants, many of them from Afghanistan.