Riot police and the Greek army on Saturday deployed tear gas along the country’s land border with Turkey to try to stop migrants from entering the country. A government spokesman saidthousands of asylum seekers were attempting to cross along the heavily militarised border along the Evros river in northeastern Greece, after Turkey said it would no longer work to prevent migrants trying to reach Europe, according to POLITICO.
Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas was quoted by eKathimerini saying that more than 4,000 migrants have been prevented from crossing into Greece from Turkey and there have been 66 arrests,
“Greece was the target of an organized. mass, illegal attempt to violate its borders and has withstood it,” Petsas told reprters after an emergency meeting of ministers at the Prime Minister’s office. Those attending the meeting presided by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis included the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Citizens’ Protection, the chief of the National Defense Staff, and other civilian, securuty and armed forces’ officials.
epaselect epa08259467 Refugees wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epa08259486 Refugees wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epa08259483 Greek riot policemen guard behind fences as refugees wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epa08259474 Refugees run from tear gas thrown by Greek policemen as they wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epa08259470 Refugees wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epa08259455 Refugees wait for attempting to pass the closed-off Turkish-Greek border and try to enter Europe, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020, while Greek border officials look on from the Greek side. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU
epaselect epa08258621 Refugees at the Turkish side of the border suffering from tear gas fired by Greek police from the Greek side at the closed-off Turkish-Greek border, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020. The Turkish government announced its decision to no longer stop refugees from reaching Europe after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria on 27 February. EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was busy Saturday contacting his counterparts in several European countries, as well as the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell Fontelles, whom he asked to convene an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
Dendias also talked on the phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zakharieva, North Macedonia’s Nikola Dimitrov and Austria’s Alexander Schallenberg. With the latter three, he discussed the likelihood of an explosive growth in migrant flows after Turkey’s decision to open its borders and push the migrants living within its territory to leave for EU countries. European officials have expressed their support for Greece’s and Bulgaria’s efforts to safeguard their borders with Turkey.
The office of the Presidenty of the European Council, Charles Michel said, in a statement, that “over the last days President Michel has…been in close contact with PM Mitsotakis and PM Borissov to follow the migration situation. The EU is actively engaged to uphold the EU-Turkey Statement and to support Greece and Bulgaria to protect the EU’s external borders.”
