Greece Heightens Turkish Border Security over Refugee Concern
Migrants try to break fences near the Pazarkule crossing gate of the Turkey-Greece border on March 7th. Source.
Greece’s government has announced its plans to extend a wall along their border with Turkey due to the growing tensions over refugee flows. The already standing wall will be extended from 10 kilometers to 26 kilometers. It will run along the Evros River which forms much of the border. According to Greece’s public order ministry, the planned extension will be five meters high, made from galvanized steel tubes and concrete foundations.
In addition to the physical wall, a surveillance camera network will be implemented that, when complete, will cover the entire 120-mile long border. Recently, border police have also trialed high-powered mobile sirens to deter refugees that are attempting to cross into Greece.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, Turkey currently holds the most refugees out of any country in the world, with 3.7 million Syrian refugees and around 370,000 people from other countries. This is in part due to the EU-Turkey immigration deal of 2016, where migrants that landed on Greek islands from Turkey - a popular route to get into the EU - would be sent to Turkey and not allowed into Greece unless their asylum application was approved. This was a vital agreement for preventing the migration of refugees into the EU, a priority for many EU nations, as migrants previously could enter the Schengen zone in Greece and then continue travelling to their preferred destination.
However, this March, Turkey decided to open its border to Greece for migrants in violation of the 2016 deal. European foreign ministers condemned this move as political hardball by Turkey saying, “The EU reiterates its serious concern over the situation at the Greek-Turkish border and strongly rejects Turkey’s use of migratory pressure for political purposes.”
Opening the border appeared to be an attempt to pressure European countries to support Turkey’s military efforts in Idlib during the escalation in early March of this year, on top of growing conflict with Greece and the European Union over energy.
Greece has made it clear that they are not open to letting in Syrian migrants. In addition to building a wall, Greece has fired tear gas at refugees, shot at the sea near dingeys, and recently suspended registration of asylum claims - a violation of 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees. The anti-refugee action in Greece has been supported across the EU, with the President of the European Commission describing Greece as Europe’s “shield” from refugees entering.
Greece’s wall is just a continuation of these initiatives - condemned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - that are preventing refugees from seeking shelter in a safer place than Turkey. Many Syrian people in Turkey are denied their right to access basic services, and many are unable to find jobs. Amnesty International has also documented Turkish authorities forcing people to return to Syria.
The reality of the situation is that many refugees are now stuck in poor conditions, and no country is willing to help them. Playing political games with almost four million people is an abhorrent course of action -- yet it is one many European nations are willing to follow. As squabbles between Greece and Turkey continue, it is hard to see an end to this political peacocking over refugees between the two powers.