CONSTANTINOPOLE. In the coming months, large refugee pressure is expected on the Greek-Turkish border and an increase in the trend of attempts to violate the border, since, according to analysts, Ankara will continue to pursue its own policy in this regard for internal reasons. specific question. Refugees and the economy are seen as the two main issues that will determine the outcome of the presidential elections scheduled for June 2023.

The presence in Turkey of approximately 5 million refugees and immigrants is causing a reaction from a large part of Turkish society, which is putting pressure on the government to expel all those who have entered the country in recent years. Declining purchasing power of the Turks, inflation exceeding 100%, are among the main reasons for the reaction, as refugees and immigrants working for lower wages “steal” the jobs of the Turks. The main goal of the Turkish government, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, is the removal of 500,000 Syrian refugees by June 2023 and their return to their country.

At the same time, there is information that the residence permit that many refugees have received is not renewed in order to leave the country. At the same time, some municipalities in Istanbul, like other major cities, set upper limits for granting residence permits to refugees and immigrants.

Analysts in Ankara note that a significant part of the citizens is putting pressure on the government to evict refugees and immigrants.

Those refugees and immigrants who do not have time to renew their residence permit in Turkey or are forced to return to Syria are looking for escape routes through the Aegean Sea or Evros. This is considered one of the main reasons for the increased pressure seen in recent weeks. However, analysts emphasize that the Turkish government is trying to instrumentalize this issue and is putting pressure on Greece, since in other Greek-Turkish issues, such as the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, Western support caused Ankara discomfort.

Turkey now accuses Greece of mistreating refugees and migrants, the latest example of which is Erdogan’s speech yesterday, who said that “with the inhuman efforts of our coast guard, we prevented the death of people in the Aegean Sea. Over the past two years, we have prevented the death and saved the lives of 41,000 people, mostly women and children, whose inflatable boats were sunk by Greece and left for dead.” In this way he tries to arouse the interest of European public opinion against Athens.

These statements were made after pressure from the Turkish opposition. Republican People’s Party chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu accuses the Turkish President of trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as a result of which Turkey accepted 4 million refugees. The pressure of Turkish citizens on the refugee to the government is, according to analysts, one of the reasons that Erdogan and Cavusoglu send messages to Assad for dialogue.