Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Friday that the EU must not accept the threats of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he would push millions of Syrian refugees into Europe, EUobserver reports.

"Turkish efforts to welcome in Syrian refugees cannot then become a tool of blackmail for a military initiative that we cannot accept and which must immediately stop," Conte said, adding that Erdogan should stop military operations in Syria.

Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish positions in northeast Syria on Wednesday, October 9, just days after US troops pulled out of the area.

Ankara argues the offensive against the Western-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which is affiliated to Kurdish groups Turkey recognizes as terror organizations – will allow the creation of a "safe zone" along its border where the more than three million Syrian refugees it currently hosts will be able to relocate.

But Western countries, including the European Union, the US, and Australia, have condemned the military operation, warning that it could have dangerous consequences.