Erdogan Says Refugee Crisis is Inevitable Without Precautions, Istanbul ICU 70% Full

LOCAL NEWS

• Erdogan says a refugee crisis is inevitable in Turkey without precautions in Iran & Afghanistan in conversations with Germany's Merkel on Saturday.
  • Noted " Turkey cannot handle the migrant influx with almost 5m refugees living in Turkey
• Turkey denies plans with the UK to establish an offshore refugee asylum in countries like Turkey & Pakistan as mentioned in UK press on Sunday by UK defense secretary Ben Wallace.
  • Turkey's Foreign ministry says "no such request has been conveyed to us by any country. Should there be any such a request, we would not accept it anyway"
• Turkey has upped its border security with armed forces being sent to the eastern border alongside armoured vehicles and 750 troops and thermal imaging drones. The 64km border wall with Iran as also been completed
• Turkey slams US for continued support of the YPG in Syria. Defense Min Akar says "we can solve the S-400 & F-35 problems with the US one way or another. But we cannot go anywhere without solving the YPG problem.
  • They argue that the YPG is not a terrorist group. US can't achieve anything gin the Middle East by ignoring Turkey"
• Medical association wans 70% of Turkey's ICUs are occupied, with unvaccinated patients making up the vast majority showing signs of the delta and delta+ variants.
  • While the situation is currently manageable, any more ICU admissions become increasingly problematic