TURKEY’S TENT CITY
Migrant camp emerges on border with Greece
THESE are the desperate scenes from a sprawling migrant camp taking root on the Turkish-Greek border yesterday.
Athens said the number of attempted illegal crossings had surged to 35,000 in a week as Turkey was accused of using the migrants as pawns.
As tents were pitched at Pazarkule on the Turkish side of the border, there were fears the camp might turn into a Calais Jungle-style settlement.
Greek officials believe the Turkish authorities have bussed thousands of migrants to the shared border while encouraging them to storm it.
The EU has sent 100 border guards to bolster the 530-strong force already in place.
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened his country’s borders at the weekend, sparking the new migrant crisis. The EU is urging Mr Erdogan to stick to a treaty signed in 2016, under which Ankara, inundated by four million refugees and migrants, received billions in aid money in return for stemming the flow of people to Europe.
Clashes have escalated amid reports of Greek border police using live ammunition, blank rounds, tear gas and stun grenades to deter migrants. Greece said that migrants were being ‘manipulated as pawns’ by Turkey in a bid to exert diplomatic pressure.
The situation threatened to escalate further last night as Ankara said it would deploy special forces along the border to stop Greek guards pushing back people trying to cross.
It came as Mr Erdogan and Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday agreed a ceasefire between their two sides’ forces in Idlib, northern Syria, which could help de-escalate the migration crisis.
Mr Erdogan has been seeking support from European allies in a bid to hold on to Idlib, the last opposition-controlled region in Syria, but his calls have so far fallen on deaf ears.
It prompted him to throw open his borders to put pressure on European leaders.