Migrants: Turkey sends police to border with Greece

Text by: RFI Follow

Turkey announced Thursday (March 5th) the deployment of a thousand police officers along the river that separates the country from Greece, to "prevent" Athens from "repelling" the migrants. They have been trying to cross the river to reach Europe since Ankara decided to open its borders to put pressure on the European Union regarding the crisis in Idleb, in Syria.

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While the situation has been straining for weeks on the Greek island of Lesbos , Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced Thursday March 5 the dispatch “ along the Meriç river [called Évros on the Greek side , Editor's note] 1 000 members of the special police force "to" prevent "Greece from" repelling "the migrants.

Turkey opened its borders with Greece at the end of February to let the migrants already present on its territory pass , withdrawing from the agreement concluded with the European Union in 2016 on asylum seekers. Since the announcement, tens of thousands of people have massed themselves along the land border between Turkey and Greece, trying to pass through border crossings or crossing the river.

Others managed to reach Greece by joining the Aegean islands, such as Lesbos and Chios.

While Athens has announced that it has prevented several thousand migrants in recent days from entering it " illegally ", Turkey also accuses Greek border forces of killing three migrants, which Athens firmly denied, rejecting " false information ".

Several migrants interviewed by AFP on the Turkish side indicated that they had been returned by the Greek authorities after having been intercepted on the other side of the border, often after having been stripped of their personal effects: money, telephone, shoes, etc.

The European Union has described Ankara's decision to open its borders as " blackmail " at a time when Turkey is seeking Western support in Syria . The influx of migrants to Greece has awakened in Europe the fear of a new migration crisis similar to that which shook the continent in 2015, but the latter has promised to " take all necessary measures " to protect its borders.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday (March 4th) that resolving the migration crisis requires European support in Ankara, Syria .

(with AFP)

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• Greece
• Turkey
• Immigration
• International Migration
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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