Pazarkule: Turkey on Saturday threatened to allow tens of thousands of refugees to leave for Europe and warned Damascus will "pay a price" as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stepped up pressure after dozens of Turkish troops were killed inside Syria.
At the Turkish border, Greek police clashed with several thousand migrants who were already gathered at the entrance into EU territory.
Young migrants lobbed rocks at Greek riot police as tear gas wafted through the trees on the frontier.
Turkey and Russia, which back opposing forces in the Syria conflict, held talks to try to defuse tensions triggered after the Turkish troops were killed, sparking fears of a broader war and a new migration crisis for Europe.
But Erdogan raised the stakes on Saturday and vowed to allow refugees to travel to Europe from Turkey which he said can not handle new waves of people fleeing Syria.
It already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
The comments were his first after 34 Turkish troops were killed since Thursday in the northern Syria province of Idlib where Moscow-backed Syrian regime forces are battling to retake the last rebel enclave.
"What did we do yesterday? We opened the doors," Erdogan said in Istanbul.
"We will not close those doors ...Why? Because the European Union should keep its promises." He was referring to a 2016 deal with the European Union to stop refugee flows in exchange for billions of euros in aid.
In Athens, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held an emergency meeting to discuss the border.
Erdogan said 18,000 migrants have amassed on the Turkish borders with Europe since Friday, adding that the number could reach as many as 30,000 on Saturday.
