Greece increases border patrol to block migrants from quake-hit Turkey and Syria

Athens: Greece has tightened border controls along its land and maritime borders with Turkey in anticipation of a fresh influx of refugees from the quake-hit Syria and Turkey.

Reports say, during the weekend, hundreds of border guards started patrolling the Greek-Turkish land border in the Evros region as emergency steps were stepped up to thwart the anticipated flows.

Notis Mitarachi, the minister of migration for Greece, emphasised the need for emergency aid to be sent to Turkey and Syria “before this occurs,” stating that the mass movement of millions of people is not a solution.

If humanitarian aid does not come, it is expected that some of the people made homeless by the earthquakes will begin travelling to Europe in the spring.

Mitarachi ordered the patrols to be sent out because he wanted the continent’s borders to be better protected with more monitoring equipment and fences.

He vowed to proceed with the expansion of a contentious wall along the land border whether or not it is funded by the EU at a European conference on border management hosted outside of Athens on Friday.

By the end of the year, the 22-mile-long, 5-meter-high barrier will be doubled in height.

He declared, “The fence will be expanded along the full length of the Evros river in order to safeguard the European continent from unauthorised flows.

Greece’s center-right government has declared it will also purchase a large number of new coastguard vessels to monitor Aegean Sea islands confronting the Turkish coast, which is a sign of the bloc’s hardening attitude towards refugees.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the country’s current prime minister, has taken a notably tougher stance on immigration than his leftist predecessor, Alexis Tsipras, whose four-year term ends in July.

The government’s strategy, which allegedly involved forcible evictions or pushbacks of refugees in border regions, has drawn harsh criticism from a number of sources, including the EU.

The government denied the accusations and defended its practises as “strict but fair.”

As Frontex, the EU border agency, beefs up patrols in the Aegean, an increasing number of refugees are risking their lives by avoiding the Greek isles and sailing from Turkey to Italy in incredibly overcrowded boats.

The 59 refugees, including a newborn child, who were discovered dead on Sunday after their boat capsized in choppy waters off the coast of Calabria had set out from the Turkish coast.

Given its frontline position, Brussels has given Greece more funding than any other EU member state to deal with migrants.

On Samos, Leros, and Kos, filthy camps have been substituted with exorbitantly expensive “closed controlled” holding facilities. This year, similar centres for asylum applicants are anticipated to open in Lesbos and Chios.

The structures have been compared by human rights organisations to jails.

Since the migration crisis of 2015, when nearly 1 million Syrians fleeing civil conflict were given asylum in Europe, calls for tougher action have risen.

At a conference last week in Athens, ministers from the 15 member states demanded additional funding for “all kinds of border protection infrastructure” in addition to the signing of agreements with other nations to accept refugees.

Before making a passing allusion to NGOs allegedly “assisting” border crossings, Mitarachi told his counterparts,
“It is now important for Europe to determine what type of migrant policy we want, and more specifically, what type of border management we want.”

“Clearly, we must grant asylum to those in need of safety, but in a systematic manner… Sadly, today, rather than taking an active role in managing immigration, people smugglers sell places in our communities, not to those who are most in need but to those who can afford the fees.

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