Erdoğan says world, EU do not understand Turkey

The European Union and world public opinion do not understand the situation of Turkey, which already hosts more than 4 million refugees, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday.

Erdoğan made the remarks after receiving Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at the presidential complex, where they discussed the ongoing situation of migrants from Syria.

Erdoğan noted that the EU had not fully met the requirements under the March 18, 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal and expectations on responsibility sharing remained unanswered.

He said Turkey rejected Europe's offer of €1 billion in migrant aid because Ankara had already spent $40 billion and would find a way to earn that money.

Erdoğan called on European Council President Charles Michel, who had visited the Turkish-Greek border, to also watch what the Greek Coast Guard does in the Aegean Sea.

He said Athens has no respect for international migration law and Greek security forces had killed two migrants and injured one.

Supporting Erdoğan in his speech, Borisov said no one understands the depth of the crisis on the Turkish-Greek border.

He said he did not understand why funds the EU had pledged for irregular migrants were not given to Turkey because one of the EU's main policies is burden sharing.