The Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) today decided on a series of measures to curb the flow into Greece of undocumented migrants from the Greek-Turkish border region of Evros, including an 80km extension of the existing steel wall, amidst concerns that Turkey may again be planning to forcefully push thousands of refugees and migrants across the border, as it had unsuccessfully attempted to do in 2019
The protection of the Greek borders at Evros was the sole item on the agenda of today’s KYSEA meeting, after Turkey’s recent move to transport about three dozen migrants to a sand islet in the Evros River.
At the meeting, which was attended by Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and other top ministers, along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Konstantinos Floros, the overall strategy of how to deal with Ankara’s exploitation of migrants by pushing them into Greece, in what Athens considers a sort of hybrid warfare, was discussed.
Averting a repeat of the 2020 Greek-Turkish border crisis
In a recent incident, in August, 38 Syrian migrants, including a pregnant woman, were placed on a sand islet in the Evros River by human smugglers and Turkish authorities and were stranded for weeks.
In Greece, the incident triggered an outpouring of sympathy and public consternation over the government’s refusal to rescue the group.
The case garnered international attention, as a five-year-old girl died of a scorpion bite and remained unburied for days (the mother placed her in the cool waters of the river), even as Greek and Turkish authorities for weeks wrangled over which side had sovereignty over the sand islet and was responsible for rescuing the refugees.
Greece insisted it was Turkish territory and Ankara maintained it was Greek territory.
Athens viewed the incident as a possible first step by Ankara to once again exploit refugees and migrants so as to point the finger at Greece for not taking them in, and the KYSEA meeting discussed ways to avert similar incidents over the coming months.
Beginning in late February, 2020, Ankara pushed thousands of migrants to the Greek-Turkish land border at Evros to enter Greece, causing a huge crisis that the government finally managed to contain with a major operation involving police, border guards, and the army.
Extending the Evros wall, preparing for all hybrid warfare scenarios
Greece after the 2020 crisis initially installed a 38 km reinforced cement and steel fence along the 190 km Greek-Turkish border at Evros, and in December, 2021, the government decided to extend it by 26kms.
It was confirmed at today’s KYSEA meeting that the wall will now be extended by another 80 kms with national funding.
Greece has applied for EU aid to extend the wall, as Greece’s borders are also the borders of the Union, but that prospect for now seems unlikely.
The extension of the wall will begin at critical crossing points identified by the competent ministries and the Hellenic Nation Defence General Staff, and it is expected to eventually cover the entire borderline.
The message sent today by the KYSEA meeting is that Greece is preparing for all possible scenarios of hybrid warfare.
Mitarakis speaks of Turkish state plan to push migrants into Greece
Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said that Turkish authorities are transporting refugees and migrants to the banks of the Evros, and threatening them with violence in order to abandon them on the sand islets in the river, so as to pressure Greece to take them in.
The KYSEA meeting noted, as regards the incident with the 38 Syrian refugees in mid-August, that it was coordinated by Turkey.
The maps of the region were drawn up in 1926, and the geomorphology of the region changes over time, bringing shifts in the positions of sand islets.
Although initial reports indicated that the Greek cadastre placed the sand islet within Greek sovereign territory and that army maps indicated it was Turkish territory, Mitarakis today told SKAI that the signal received from the the refugees placed it outside Greek territory.
Main opposition SYRIZA has maintained that it is Greek territory.
