The suffering of thousands of migrants stranded on the Turkish-Greek border has been continuing for nearly a week, as Ankara announced Thursday the deployment of 1,000 police officers on its borders to prevent the Greek authorities from returning the migrants to its territory. While Greece prevented their entry and denounced the Turkish "blackmail" by using the immigrant card to pressure the Europeans on the Syrian file.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu announced Thursday that his country has begun deploying 1,000 police officers to prevent Greece from returning migrants to its lands, while about a week ago, thousands of immigrants continued to suffer from those stranded on the Greek border, following Ankara's decision Friday to open the border and allow them to cross.
"A thousand special police forces are being deployed as of this morning on the bank of the Meric River on the border, with all their equipment, to prevent the response," Minister Soylu told reporters during an inspection visit to the northwestern province of Edirne.
Soilo accused Greece of "mistreating" migrants and said Turkey "would not allow that."
Fears of a migration wave similar to that of 2015
On Friday, Turkey confirmed opening its land and sea borders to refugees and migrants, in a declaration that raised in Europe fears of a migration crisis similar to the one witnessed in the continent in 2015.
Turkey hosts about four million refugees, the majority of whom are Syrians, and fears the flow of refugees from Idlib Governorate after they were displaced from the areas where fighting is taking place in Idlib Governorate, where the Syrian forces launch an attack with the support of Russia.
After Erdogan's statements, thousands of refugees rushed to the border in Edirne, where clashes took place with the Greek police in the past few days.
Migrants who departed from Turkey also reached Greek islands, such as Lesbos.
Turkey has accused Greece of using live ammunition against migrants, and has said three people have been killed.
Athena rejected the accusations, saying it was "false news".
The Billingcat website for investigative investigations said Thursday that Greek riot police appeared to be using tear gas canisters that could cause death after finding empty packages with a sharp head, near the place where asylum seekers demonstrated on the Greek border.
More than 35 thousand crossing attempts within 5 days
For its part, the Greek government announced that the Border Guard Force had prevented nearly 7,000 attempts to enter in the past 24 hours, and nearly 35,000 attempts in the past five days.
Greece and its European partners fear a new wave of asylum will flow from Syria. More than a million refugees arrived in Europe in 2015, and that wave ended after the signing of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to regulate the movement of refugees.
Greece faces difficulties caring for thousands of asylum seekers, some of whom have been in the country for several years, especially on islands whose camps suffer from overcrowding and poor living conditions.
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