Greece says Turkish forces helping migrants cross border

EDIRNE - Greece has repulsed nearly 35,000 migrants trying to cross onto its territory illegally since Turkey opened its border nearly a week ago, government sources said on Thursday, as it prepares to deport hundreds of others who made it through.

Thousands of migrants have made for Greece since Ankara said on Feb. 28 that it would let migrants cross its borders into Europe, reneging on a commitment to hold them on its territory under a 2016 deal with the European Union.

Ankara has accused Greek forces of shooting dead four migrants, a charge rejected by Athens, which says Turkish forces are helping the migrants to cross the border. Both sides used tear gas at the Kastanies border post on Wednesday.

Turkey's interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, visited Edirne province bordering Greece on Thursday and announced the deployment of 1,000 special police to the area to halt the pushback of migrants towards its territory.

“As of this morning ... we are bringing 1,000 fully equipped special forces police (along) the Meric river system to prevent the pushbacks,” Soylu said. “With the help of Zodiac boats they will (stop) those who mistreat people.”

Soylu said Greece had tried to push back around 4,900 migrants, in violation of international conventions, and accused the European Union and Europe's border protection agency Frontex of remaining silent.

Soylu, who said on Wednesday that Turkey was preparing a case at the European Court of Human Rights over Greece's treatment of migrants, also accused Greek forces of wounding 164 people.

Greece on Thursday banned most vessels from sailing around the Aegean islands of Chios, Lesbos and Samos. They are all close to the Turkish coast and a regular target for dinghies packed with migrants trying to enter the EU.

Choppy seas discouraged dinghies from making the crossing on Thursday, though in the evening a boat carrying 42 mostly Afghan migrants reached Lesbos. The UN refugee agency handed out snacks and blankets to the group, which included about 10 children.

Lesbos already hosts more than 20,000 asylum seekers, many of them living in filthy conditions in overcrowded camps.

The situation at the Kastanies land border crossing in northern Greece was calm on Thursday.

Migrants, who include Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Africans, huddled in tents and makeshift camps on the Turkish side of the border. Others stood in line to receive food packages from aid agencies.

Human rights concerns

Greek border guards rebuffed nearly 7,000 attempts in the last 24 hours alone, taking the total since Feb. 29 to 34,778 and the number of arrests of those who got through to 244, Greek government sources said.

Migrants who arrived in Greece illegally after March 1 will be transferred to the northern city of Serres and deported back to their own countries, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said late on Wednesday.

"Our aim is to return them to their countries," he told the Athens News Agency.

Mitarachi said migrants who entered Greece prior to Jan. 1, 2019 and are living on its Aegean islands would be transferred to the mainland in the coming days.

Athens announced on March 1 that it would not accept any new asylum applications for a month following the build-up of migrants at the border. This has triggered criticism from human rights agencies.

"It's very sad that we have seen again human beings treated as political weapons... This is unacceptable," said Francesco Rocca, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), on a visit to the border.

The UN migration agency, the IOM, also urged all countries to respect the migrants' human rights.

"... international legal obligations must be upheld, in particular with respect to those who may be in need of international protection," it said in a statement.

Greece and the EU accuse Turkey of deliberately goading the migrants to cross the border as a way of pressuring Brussels into offering more money or supporting Ankara's geopolitical aims in the Syrian conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly bemoaned a lack of support from Europe for his military incursions into Syria

Erdogan's decision to open its gateways to Europe has especially raised the ire of the EU - which was holding a foreign ministers' meeting in Zagreb, Croatia on Thursday - for raising the spectre of a repeat of the 2015-2016 migrant crisis.

The EU is preparing an additional 500 million euros in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey to ease tensions with Ankara, European sources told AFP news agency on Thursday, a funding offer that comes after EU officials accused Turkey of "blackmail". 

The money will be in addition to the six billion euros allocated in 2016 to finance programmes to support millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Erdogan's move came amid a Russia-backed Syrian government offensive into Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, where Turkish troops are fighting. The offensive has killed dozens of Turkish troops and sent nearly a million Syrian civilians toward Turkey’s sealed border. Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees and faces another influx amid the increased fighting, says it cannot take in any more people.