Immigration issue cannot be resolved unless root causes addressed: Erdogan

The immigration problem cannot be resolved unless the international community addresses its root causes, Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

“The real burden of the issue of migration and refugees does not fall on developed nations with a strong voice, but on countries like ours that are neighbours to the crisis regions,” Erdogan said in a video message to the Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration on Monday.

The two-day event, co-hosted by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and Inter-Parliamentary Union, kicked off in Istanbul as the annual World Refugee Day is marked around the globe.

Erdogan added that some countries were using “the few hundred refugees they have accepted as advertising material."

He criticised these countries for taking “no responsibility in the face of the deepening humanitarian crises.”

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Illegal pushbacks by Greece

In his address, Erdogan also spoke about the inhumane treatment of refugees by Greece.

Athens has been repeatedly condemned by Türkiye and human rights groups for its illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers and using violence against vulnerable people, including women and children.

“We witness the suffering of refugees every day as they are persecuted, robbed, beaten, and even killed by the Greek security forces,” the Turkish president said.

Türkiye hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, sheltering nearly 4 million people who have fled from Syria over the past decade – more than any other country in the world.

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