The Turkish economy was healing after a recession when the new coronavirus struck, leaving Ankara scrambling to contain the damage with stimulus measures worth billions and facing demands to do much more.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered the Turkish coastguard to prevent migrants crossing the Aegean sea because of the risks, state media reported.

A ceasefire in northern Syria agreed between Russia and Turkey came into force on Friday, aiming to halt intense fighting that has sparked a humanitarian disaster and raised fears of their armies clashing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan began talks in Moscow on Thursday aimed at defusing the crisis in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Turkey deployed 1,000 police officers on Thursday to prevent Greece pushing migrants back, its interior minister said, as thousands of refugees massed at the Greek border.

Migrants and refugees clashed with Greek police on the Turkish border on Wednesday as they resumed efforts to enter Europe, leaving at least one person injured, according to AFP correspondents. 

The EU dispatched its highest officials to Turkey and Greece on Tuesday amid concern over a fresh migrant crisis and allegations that Ankara was trying to "blackmail" the bloc by opening its borders to thousands of refugees seeking to flee to Europe.

UN investigators warned Monday that Ankara might bear "criminal responsibility" for war crimes perpetrated against Kurds in northern Syria late last year, including the execution of a popular female politician.

The report comes as tensions soar between Turkey and Russian-backed Syrian forces following escalating clashes in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib, but is not directly linked to the latest unrest.  

A Turkish official said Saturday that Turkey destroyed a chemical warfare facility in northwest Syria after dozens of its soldiers were killed by Syrian regime fire.

Turkey on Friday called on the international community to establish a no-fly zone over the northwestern province of Idlib to protect civilians from Syrian regime bombardments a day after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers.