One million more people could flee war-torn Syria for Europe in a dramatic escalation of the migrant crisis, it was claimed on Thursday.
Turkey is expecting the worsening situation in the country to displace another two million people over the winter.
And capital Ankara claimed that half of them were likely to head across its borders into Europe as a result of Russian air strikes in the region.
But the country - which already has more than two million refugees within its borders - was accused of blackmail as it demanded an extra £2 billion a year from the EU to cope with the deepening crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised Turkey speedier talks on its aspirations to join the EU in exchange for it sealing its borders and halting the flow of migrants.
She has also pledged to ease visa restrictions on its citizens travelling to the EU, something that has already drawn sharp criticism from member states.
However on thursday night critics branded any extra cash a “grubby” bribe ahead of the Turkey’s general elections on Sunday.
The country is letting at least 10 000 refugees a day slip past border guards and into the EU.
But Russian intervention in Syria has increased fears of another great exodus.
If they are realised, Turkey could find itself harbouring between three and four million displaced people.
It could place even more pressure on countries later receiving them in the EU, where member states are already erecting fences and ripping up the free movement principles underpinning the Union.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, on Thursday warned the bloc risked “disintegrating” if it failed to respond collectively to the worst crisis since the Second World War.
Her warning came as it emerged that Turkey had apparently raised its price for helping to deal with the refugee crisis.
Sources told the EU Observer website that Turkey was operating a “protection racket”.
“It’s a classic protection racket. First you give 1billion euros and they say it’s not enough. Then 3billion euros [£2.1billion] and they come back and say “Now you have to pay more”. They’re in a position where they can open or close the sluice gates [on refugee arrivals] to put pressure on the EU for extra concessions.”
Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “David Cameron has been a cheerleader for Turkish accession to the EU for years.
Now [President] Erdogan is blackmailing the EU, using the migrant crisis as his crowbar to prise open European taxpayers’ pockets.”
He told the Daily Mail: “This new demand for 3billion euros annually is directed as much at the guilt-stricken governments of Europe as to his own people as a grubby election promise.
“Britain should have nothing to do with plans to salve Angela Merkel’s conscience, particularly when we can see the Erdogan government intensifying both its crackdown on the freedom of speech and in the prosecution of its war against the Kurds.”
The European Commission has agreed to delay an annual report on Turkey’s progress in meeting the EU’s strict membership criteria until after the November 1 general election.
A leaked draft accused Turkey of “backsliding” over the independence of its judiciary, and on Wednesday police stormed the studios of two broadcasters which had been critical of the president.
Negotiations with Turkey came as Europe’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Miss Mogherini, said that if the EU merely relied on national responses to a continent-wide issue, “the crisis will get worse, with chain reactions from public opinion and national governments”.
Daily Mail
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