国际英语新闻:Migrant route from Turkey to EU not open: German gov't spokesman

BERLIN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- German Federal Government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Tuesday that the way to the European Union (EU) from Turkey is not open for refugees and migrants.

"At the moment we are experiencing an extremely worrying situation on the European Union's external borders with Turkey, on land and at sea. We are seeing refugees and migrants who are told by the Turkish side that the way to the EU is now open, and of course it is not," said Seibert, according to a report by the German Press Agency (dpa).

Seibert said that Turkey's decision to open the border with the EU for refugees had put those people in an extremely difficult situation, and also has been presenting Greece with enormous challenges.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Tuesday warned that the situation on the Turkish-Greek border would be worse than that of the 2015 refugee crisis when over a million refugees entered the EU in the wake of the civil war in Syria.

The German newspaper Die Welt reported that during a meeting of the German Union Party's parliamentary faction, Seehofer said as the situation is precarious, it is far from being correctable if mistakes are made now.

Seehofer said that Germany has to get it under control, otherwise the 2015 refugee crisis would repeat. He also called for security of the EU's external border and made it clear that the EU's borders are not open.

Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have gathered on the Turkish side of the border, after Ankara said it could no longer prevent them from reaching Europe's borders.

Turkey decided to open its border gates for illegal migrants after at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel-held stronghold. Enditem