Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the European Union (EU) member states to make more efforts to resolve the current refugee crisis.

Speaking on Wednesday during a visit to the Russian capital, Moscow, the Turkish president said the current crisis could not be resolved by EU countries imposing restrictions and closing their borders.

“It can only be achieved by transforming their countries into habitable places where the refugees can live,” Erdogan said.

He added that his country had received two million refugees, mostly from neighboring Syria, where a four-year foreign-backed militancy has left 250,000 people dead.

Earlier this week, EU interior ministers approved a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees across the continent. They had earlier agreed to relocate 40,000 among member states.

EU leaders have called on the international community to assist Syria’s neighboring countries, which have been sheltering most of the refugees.

According to estimates by the United Nations (UN), some 500,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, have entered EU countries by sea so far this year. Thousands have lost their lives as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

A number of European countries have closed their borders or imposed restrictions at crossing points to prevent the influx of refugees, in a move that has violated rules of the passport-free Schengen zone.