Border clashes spur Greece-turkey tensions
Accusations traded over death of migrant
KASTANIES, Greece — Greece countered accusations from Turkey on Wednesday that it was responsible for the death of a migrant, as its border authorities strove for a sixth day to keep thousands of migrants out by using tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.
The border tensions followed last week’s decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare the country’s gateways to Greece open in an attempt to pressure Europe into offering Turkey more support in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian war to its south.
Turkish officials said that Greek gunfire killed one migrant and wounded five others — an allegation that Athens rejected.
The office of Ekrem Canalp, governor for the Turkish border province of Edirne, said the death occurred on the Turkish side of the border close to the Pazarkule crossing. An official at Edirne’s Trakya University Hospital confirmed the death.
Greek border authorities said Wednesday that Turkish police were firing tear gas at them and supplied video they said backed their assertion.
Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas denied any migrants had been wounded or killed by Greek authorities.
“The Turkish side creates and disperses fake news targeted against Greece,” he said. “There is no such incident with fire from the Greek authorities.”
Turkey also said on Monday that a migrant was killed, which Athens denied.
The crisis at the border of the two NATO allies comes at a time when tensions are high over offshore exploration rights.
Erdogan’s decision to open the border encouraged thousands of people seeking a better life in Europe to try their luck by land and sea. The Turkish president has warned that millions of migrants might be headed Europe’s way.
He has said more than 100,000 people have successfully crossed into Greece, above the numbers being reported by Greece or observed by reporters at the border.
Greek authorities said Wednesday that more than 32,000 attempts to illegally cross the Evros border have been thwarted since Saturday, with 231 people — mostly Afghans — arrested. After a dip on Tuesday when European Union officials visited the border, attempts roughly tripled to 4,600 Wednesday, while some 15,000 people were gathered along the frontier.
The European Union has accused Erdogan of blackmail.
Erdogan made the decision to open the border after a Russia-backed Syrian government offensive into Syria’s northwestern Idlib province killed dozens of Turkish soldiers fighting in Syria and prompted nearly a million Syrian civilians to head toward Turkey.
U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres “is very concerned about the situation on the border,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday.
Along with seeking to prevent migrants from crossing over land, Greece is having to patrol its waters as hundreds of migrants have headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands from the nearby Turkish coast. Migrants cross in crammed and unseaworthy dinghies provided by smuggling rings. A child died when the boat he was in capsized off the island of Lesbos this week.
The Greek government has called the situation a direct threat to national security and imposed emergency measures to carry out swift deportations and freeze asylum applications for one month. Migrants have reported being pushed back across the border into Turkey.