Synopsis

At the close of February, Turkish President Erdogan unexpectedly opened the border with Greece. The strain on Turkey, tasked with absorbing a large influx of migrants, had become unsustainable. With EU support still in place, Erdogan appeared to deliberately shift the burden, opening the borders to allow the Union to experience the pressure firsthand. Buses were dispatched to transport migrants to Pazarkule, the border crossing between Edirne in Turkey and the region of Western Thrace in Greece.