As the rest of the world is busy locking down borders amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Turkey has reportedly kept it migrant wave to the EU corridor open, resulting in continued chaos at Greek-Turkey border points, as desperate asylum seekers try any way possible to gain EU entry.
This now includes not just an ongoing militarized response on the Greek side to keep thousands from crossing illegally, but reportedly now erecting huge concrete blocks at key land crossings.
The completely shuttered border crossings with Turkey are beginning to resemble war zones akin to WWI trenches and fortifications:
“Greece on Friday placed 5-foot concrete blocks at its Kastanies border crossing with Turkey to stop the entry of asylum seekers,” Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reports.
For weeks since Erdogan said he had in an act of retribution aimed at uncooperative EU states ‘opened the gates’ on hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees from Idlib seeking entry into Europe, the border situation has seen running battles between throngs of migrants and Greek border guards.
Turkish media and officials have played up the ‘violent’ response by Greek security while downplaying and ignoring Turkey’s leaders actively facilitating the confrontations:
In the two weeks since asylum seekers were able to reach the border, nearly 2,500 have been wounded by Greek border guards who use disproportionate violence.
Last month, Turkey opened its borders to Europe for asylum seekers accusing the EU of failing to keeps its part of a 2016 refugee deal.
Athens, for its part, has slammed the accusations of Greek border guards firing on migrants as “fake news” and lies spun by the Turkish state.
