Tension prevails at the Turkish-Greek border today, Saturday, after exchanging gas bombs between the police of the two sides, and Greece is arresting its refugee arrivals. At a time when Turkey is preventing attempts to return, and Ankara and the European Union accuse each other of responsibility.
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis considered that the agreement between the European Union and Turkey to limit immigration is in the "dead" rule, accusing Turkey of helping to flow thousands of migrants to the borders.
The Greek authorities said in a statement that about 2,900 people had tried to cross the country, and that they had arrested seven Afghans and one Syrian.
Yesterday, Greek security fired gas bombs and used water cannons to disperse refugees and migrants, causing suffocation. Anatolia Agency published photos that it said were documenting the effects of the beating they were subjected to by Greek security after they were stripped naked.
As for Turkey, it said that it had deployed special forces personnel along its borders with Greece, to prevent attacks on refugees and prevent them from being sent back to the country, and it justified launching gas bombs on its part as a response to a similar launch from the Greeks.
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Conflicting positions
On Friday, the European Union foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, in which they announced their rejection of Turkey's decision to open its borders with Greece to refugees, and expressed their deep concern about the situation on the Greek-Turkish border.
On the other hand, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the statement issued by the meeting "clearly shows that the European Union has not yet realized the efforts made by Turkey, and the great burden it bears," considering that accusing Ankara of using the issue of immigration for political purposes is an indication of the dual positions of the Union.
The Foreign Ministry statement also accused the European Union of contradicting its principles and values through its support for Greece, "which practiced all forms of violence against innocent people who came to its borders, and condemned the use of the word migrants instead of refugees to describe the situation of people who came of their own will to seek international protection."
The Turkish Foreign Ministry called on the European Union to fulfill its obligations towards refugees under the "readmission" agreement concluded between the two parties in 2016, and to adhere to the common European values, and the laws of the union.
In this context, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear - in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel - that Greece has violated the rules of the European Union's founding document and the Geneva Convention, and that the agreements between Turkey and the European Union are not implemented and should be reviewed, according to the Anatolia Agency.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that Erdogan affirmed - in contact with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Blinkovic, whose country is chairing the current session of the European Union - that the Union is obliged to protect refugees at the border, and that closing the border does not absolve him of this responsibility.
In a statement issued by the Turkish presidency yesterday, Ankara expressed deep concern about the bad treatment and "deadly" force exercised by the Greek border guards against asylum seekers, according to the statement.
He added that Turkey - which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world - is a wall against the waves of irregular migration, accusing the European Union of not fulfilling its obligations, which prompted Ankara to direct its resources to face a possible wave of refugees from Idlib instead of using its energy to prevent refugees from going to Europe. .
On the other hand, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded the international community yesterday that it is necessary to help Turkey to bear the burdens of Syrian refugees, reiterating its support for the recommendations of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which demanded Greece last Monday to "refrain from any measures that would increase the suffering of more people Weakened. "
Greek security launches gas bombs to disperse refugees and migrants (Anatolia Agency) |
European concerns
In turn, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz said in press statements yesterday, "If these individuals, some of whom have a willingness to violence, arrive in Central Europe, then their number will not remain at 13,000, but rather will reach hundreds of thousands and possibly millions, and we will eventually have the same The conditions that occurred in 2015 ".
Curtis stated that most of those who arrived at the Greek border are not refugees who fled the war zone in Syria, but rather are immigrants who have lived for years in Turkey, and they are not subjected to prosecution in Turkey.
The European Union called for work on a peace plan for Syria, and Curtis added, "There is no solution but to establish a peaceful region in Syria, preferably in the north, under the supervision of the United Nations to ensure stability and security there."