Fears of Turkey to re-use refugees’ card
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Tension between Turkey and Greece has escalated since early September regarding isles in Aegean Sea and Greek interceptions of Turkish planes the matter arouses fears of Turkey to head to use refugees’ card against Europe.
Indications on the ground reveal moves made by the refugees in line with increasing Greek security procedures on the border.
Over the last decade, Turkey has always threatened European countries to flood them with refugees whenever a political dispute between Europe and Turkey occurs.
Recently, Takis Theodorikakos, the Greek Minister of Citizen Protection, accused Turkey of immorally exploiting refugees illegally.
In a televised speech on September 11, Theodorikakos said that in August alone, nearly 40.000 refugees tried to cross illegally into Greece close to Evros. Since January, the number has reached 150.000 refugees all being rejected admission.
Although security measures were increased on the Greek borders, a step blessed by the EU, migrants continue to cross the Aegean towards Europe while others have adopted alternatives in North Africa via the Mediterranean.
Border fortification
The Greek Minister said that his country’s border is under 24-houred surveillance by military and police, Turkey should take that into account,” adding, “undoubtedly, the influx of refugees is pushed by Turkey.”
Theodorikakos called on Europe to support the Akritas Plan to protect the border in Evros, in an indication to border between Greece and western Istanbul where River Evros separates both.
In this relation, the Minister said that border fence would be extended some 140 km and that 250 border guards would be installed at the same time, and watching mechanism at Evros would be provided with technological devices.
Up to now, some 37 km have been built that could extended to 140 km, “of course, it is a mass project, it follows long years of operational experiment by the police and military,” the minister said.
Theodorikakos pointed out that Europe is indebted to his country that protected the eastern borders with Turkey, affirming Greeks are united to protect the sovereign rights of their country.
In May, Greek authorities announced that due to fears posed by migrants coming from Turkey amid security tensions with Ankara, the government would add 80 km of the concrete wall to the 35 border fence.
New tension
Since 1974 relations between the two countries remain tense in the follow of invasion by Ankara of Northern Cyprus which fell to the Turkish control.
In 2020 tensions went high again after Ankara discovered gas fields off Cyprus. Since then, the Turkish President has regularly threatened Greece.
The other dispute began two weeks ago, when Turkey accused Greece of obstructing Turkish fighter jet from the S-300 air defense system, which is stationed on the island of Crete.
Ankara said Greek pilots put Turkish planes under radar in east Mediterranean in a NATO mission last month. Athens rejected the Turkish allegations of breaching its aerial space.
Both countries filed complaints to NATO. The omission by NATO of a tweet by the NATO Allied Land Command congratulating Turkey on the V- Day, a step to the favor of Greece, angered Ankara.
Earlier in the week, Erdogan repeated, “One night, suddenly we could come.”
Greek officials considered statements as threats, that Turkey could carry out a military action against the Aegean isles, which Athens says would defend its sovereignty.
This tension could reflect the refugees’ files as they are waiting for heading towards European borders.
New Refugees batch
Few days ago, there was much talk about a new batch of Syrian refugees in Turkey and Syria to form a caravan to reach EU countries after it was promoted on telegram watched by nearly 70.000 people.
Observers believe the caravan is a pressing card against Greece amid increased tension with Turkey, its NATO ally and historical foe.
There are nearly 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey who fear they could be returned to their homes notably after the considerable shift in Turkey’s position towards Damascus.
Finances in Turkey
With hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and other nationalities added to Syrians, Turkey adopted a lenient policy regarding migration.
Getting a temporary residence card in Turkey was an easy task on the contrary to other countries in the region notably if compared to Europe.
As Turks face a deteriorating economic depression amid growing inflation, and the recession in Turkish lira, they showed discontent towards refugees especially Syrians and Afghans accusing them of robbing their posts and increasing rents in the country.
However, hosting refugees in not a “philanthropy” by Turkey but the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey has provided nearly 6 billion Euros allocated to two categories, joint distributing mechanism that guarantees needs of refugees and the hosting communities in Turkey in a coordinated and overall way.
In June, the EU expedited 50 million Euros to support refuges posed to danger and hosting communities in Turkey.
Despite the issue of the Ukrainian refugees, Europe pledged to proceed humanitarian aid to refugees in Turkey.
This is a part of a 3 billion Euros package which was announced by the EU Commissioner to support refugees in Turkey up to 2024.
Of note, the humanitarian aid to Turkey since 2012 reaches 3.34 billion Euros.