Greece extends border wall with Turkey to deter Afghan asylum-seekers

Kurdistan 24 2021/08/21 15:35

Police patrol alongside a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border, Greece, May 21, 2021. (Photo: Giannis Papanikos/AP)

Europe Greece Turkey Refugees Afghanistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Greece has completed a 40 km wall and installed a new surveillance system on its border with Turkey in an effort to prevent the expected influx of Afghan asylum-seekers to the country.

After the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban this month, concerns are growing in Europe of a refugee crisis similar to the one in 2015 spurred by the Syrian war.

Greek defense minister Nikolaos Panagiotopulos and citizens’ protection minister Michalis Chrisochoidis visited the border area on Saturday to inspect the new surveillance system.

“We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact. Our borders will remain safe and inviolable,” Chrisochoidis said during the visit and emphasized that the country had to take action to stop scenes similar to those six years ago.

Greece already has a border wall of 15 km with Turkey in place.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Friday. Erdogan said “If the necessary measures were not taken in Afghanistan and Iran, a new wave of migration would be inevitable,” according to a statement from his office.

In 2015 hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers, mostly from the Middle East, crossed over the border from Turkey to Greece en route to other European countries.

The number of asylum-seekers crossing the border diminished dramatically after Turkey struck a deal with the European Union in 2016 to control the flow of migrants in exchange for financial support.