While Turkey’s strongman maintains “highly political” motives where the refugees are concerned, the attitude of the country’s general populace towards Syrians has transformed from a welcoming one to wishing for their forced relocation back into war zones, Tahiroglu told the Washington Kurdish Institute.

Erdogan has said Ankara would send millions of Syrian refugees it hosts to Europe if European countries label the country’s military incursion in neighboring Syria as an occupation. The Turkish president has also made a similar threat if the EU failed to provide financial aid to Ankara to support the refugees.

Meanwhile, Ankara has announced plans to relocate millions of Syrian refugees in northern Iraq, where it launched a military offensive targeting Kurdish forces last year.

"On the one side, he’s playing this card against Europeans and on the other hand, he’s trying to resend these refugees to parts of Syria as part of what seems to be his plan for demographic changes in Syria. That’s again forcing his own hand into the Syrian theatre,’’ Tahiroglu said.

When asked about his religious agendas, Tahiroglu pointed out that many so-called religious icons are simply using Islam as a means to their own political or economic benefits. She said that ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s initial welcome to the refugees was “not at all transparent,” and that members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) were not allowed to visit these campsites to ensure humanitarian standards for the refugees.

In order to make changes in Turkey, the U.S government would first have to call Erdogan out on Turkey’s current humanitarian crisis and his dictator-like attitude. She adds that if these issues are left unaddressed, “one day we might wake up and Turkey looks entirely different. In fact, we are there.”

Reporter’s code: 50101