Greece blocks 35,000 migrants, Turkey deploys troops on border
Migrants who arrived in Greece illegally after March 1 will be deported back to their own countries, says Greek minister; IOM urges all countries to respect migrant rights; IFRC hopes for a political solution; EU offers $560m in aid
Greece has repulsed nearly 35,000 migrants trying to cross onto its territory illegally since Turkey opened its border nearly a week ago, government sources said on Thursday, as it prepares to deport hundreds of others who made it through.
The EU is preparing an additional 500 million euros ($560 million) in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, European sources said on Thursday.
Turkey said it would deploy special forces along its land border with Greece to prevent Greek authorities pushing back people trying to cross into Europe.
Turkey’s Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, visited Edirne province bordering Greece on Thursday and announced the deployment of 1,000 special police to the area to halt the pushback of migrants towards its territory.
Greece on Thursday banned most vessels from sailing around the Aegean islands of Chios, Lesbos and Samos.
Choppy seas discouraged dinghies from making the crossing on Thursday, though in the evening a boat carrying 42 mostly Afghan migrants reached Lesbos.
The UN refugee agency handed out snacks and blankets to the group, which included about 10 children.
The situation at the Kastanies land border crossing in northern Greece was calm on Thursday.
Migrants, who include Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Africans, huddled in tents and makeshift camps on the Turkish side of the border.
Others stood in line to receive food packages from aid agencies.
Greek border guards rebuffed nearly 7,000 attempts in the last 24 hours alone, taking the total since Feb.29 to 34,778 and the number of arrests of those who got through to 244, the Greek government sources said.
Migrants who arrived in Greece illegally after March 1 will be transferred to the northern city of Serres and deported back to their own countries, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said late on Wednesday.
“Our aim is to return them to their countries,” he told the Athens News Agency.
Mitarachi said migrants who entered Greece prior to Jan.1, 2019 and are living on its Aegean islands would be transferred to the mainland in the coming days.
The UN migration agency, the IOM, also urged all countries to respect the migrants’ human rights.
“International legal obligations must be upheld, in particular with respect to those who may be in need of international protection,” it said in a statement.
The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Francesco Rocca, visited the Greek side of the border Thursday, and said he hoped a political solution would be found soon.
He said he saw through the border fence that there were hundreds of people, including women and children, waiting on the Turkish side of the border.
“Every country, every institution like (the) European Union has the right to set up policies, but these policies must never affect they dignity of human beings,” he said. “It’s very, very sad that we have seen again human beings treated as a political weapon. As a tool for politics. And this is unacceptable.”
He said “everyone should be grateful to Turkey” for sheltering millions of refugees for years, but ”political reason cannot justify the decision to open the border.”
Amid rising concerns over migrant influx, EU ministers were holding a foreign ministers’ meeting in Zagreb, Croatia.
“As of this morning, we are bringing 1,000 fully equipped special forces police (along) the Meric river system to prevent the pushbacks,” Soylu said. “With the help of Zodiac boats they will (stop) those who mistreat people.”
Soylu said Greece had tried to push back around 4,900 migrants, in violation of international conventions, and accused the European Union (EU) and Europe’s border protection agency Frontex of remaining silent.
An estimated 4,000-5,000 people were near the Pazarkule border crossing, opposite the Greek village of Kastanies, and were being prevented from crossing, Soylu said.