bernie sanders is a communist and couldn ' t of won the presidency <| sep |> President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to throw open Turkey ' s gates for migrants and refugees after the European Parliament voted to suspend EU membership negotiations with Ankara . If you go any further , these border gates will be opened . Neither me nor my people will be affected by these empty threats , Mr Erdogan said at a women ' s justice congress in Istanbul on Friday . It wouldn ' t matter if all of you approved the vote , he added , referring to the European Parliament ' s motion a day earlier . In March , Turkey and Brussels struck a deal aiming to prevent and discourage migrants from crossing the Aegean to neighbouring Greece an agreement that has proven successful in limiting the flow . The deal largely relied on Turkey ' s cooperation to take back rejected asylumseekers and patrol its sea and land borders . In return , the EU pledged financial aid , visafree travel for Turkish citizens and progress in Turkey ' s longstalled accession talks . On Thursday , however , MEPs approved a motion calling on the European Commission and member states ' governments to freeze Turkey ' s accession process in response to the Turkish government ' s disproportionate reaction to this summer ' s failed coup . Amid an already deteriorating environment for free speech , the Turkish government has suspended more than 100 , 000 civil servants , arrested tens of thousands including journalists , MPs , judges and lawyers and shut hundreds of associations , NGOs and newspapers since July . Allegations of torture and Mr Erdogan ' s announcement that he would consider reintroducing the death penalty has alarmed Europeans . However , the European Parliament ' s vote is nonbinding and member states are unlikely to take action . Halting membership talks would be largely symbolic , as Turkey ' s accession process stalled soon after it began in 2005 . Turkey hosts an estimated 2 . 7 million Syrian refugees , but it is uncertain whether Europe would experience a similar influx to 2015 even if Mr Erdogan did act on his threat . With Macedonia ' s border shut , refugees crossing to Greece would be stuck in overcrowded island camps where conditions have continually deteriorated since March . Yesterday night , a 60 yearold woman and her 5 yearold grandchild both Kurds from Iraq were killed when a gas cylinder exploded in Moria camp on Lesbos , triggering protests among the 4 , 000 migrants and refugees held in the facility .