Coronavirus and refugee crisis highlight tense relationship between Turkey and Greece
Crisis situations are capable of bringing out the best and the worst in human beings. In recent months we have witnessed how solidarity has been regaining its lost prominence on the international scene. However, this solidarity has sometimes been accompanied by ambition, as has happened in the case of Turkey. This week, the Greek authorities have shown their concern at the increase in the number of migrants and refugees who are gathering on the Turkish coast with the intention of crossing the Aegean Sea. These migrants have allegedly been pushed by the government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite restrictions on movement imposed in both countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Greece has announced that it is preparing for a new wave of migrants from Turkey, after satellite images appeared showing how thousands of Turkish refugees were being released from the deportation centres in which they were being held, as reported the British daily The Times. The images were published several days after the Greek newspaper Kathimerini indicated in one of its articles that many migrants had been concentrating in Turkey's western coastal cities, “as if they were ready to cross over to the neighbouring Greek islands”.
The word humanity disappeared on the Turkish-Greek border last March in the wake of the dialectic war between Ankara and Athens and after the Turkish Government announced that it had taken the decision to open borders to Europe. Since then, clashes between the Greek border police and asylum seekers have been the order of the day. In recent hours, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas has reported that the country's authorities “have seen signs of activity” on the Turkish coast. “We will continue to do what is necessary to defend our sovereign rights and monitor the borders of Greece and Europe,” he said in a statement to The New York Times.
The capital of the new wave of migration has been (and is) Greece. Despite the existence of a migration agreement between the EU and Turkey, Greece remains the main point of irregular entry of migrants to Europe. The upsurge in conflicts that have afflicted countries such as Libya and Syria have forced thousands of people to flee to the Aegean islands since July 2019. This situation has resulted in more than 42,000 asylum-seekers living in refugee camps on the Greek islands.
A new wave of migrants could be disastrous for a country and refugee camps that are suffering the consequences of the coronavirus. In response, Greek Ministry of Defence officials have reported that military personnel have been tasked with guarding the country's land and sea borders.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy insisted on Monday that Turkey is complying with the migration agreement signed with the EU, in response to claims by Greece's migration minister that Ankara was using the coronavirus as an excuse to violate the document, according to statements recorded by the Daily Dabah newspaper. He also blamed the European Union for not fulfilling its obligations. “Our suggestion to Greece is to take urgent measures to avoid a humanitarian disaster in the refugee camps due to the pandemic,” he urged the neighbouring country.
The Greek City Times has recorded the statements of Alexandros Diakopoulos, deputy admiral and national security adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In these declarations Diakopoulos states that Greece is currently facing two challenges, one invisible as the coronavirus is, and the other tangible, referring to Turkey. “At the end of February, upon reading that a new virus had appeared in the distant city of Wuhan in China, our country received a sudden, massive, organized and coordinated pressure from population movements to the east by land and sea, on its borders, which was directed and supported by the Turkish state,” he warned.
Diakopoulos accuses Turkey of starting a "hybrid war" against Greece using unconventional weapons such as “spreading false news”. He stressed that Greece is now challenged to deal with a “hybrid and totalitarian conflict”. “In any war, the center of gravity is social cohesion. In both cases, Greek society has shown great maturity and unity. The government has made the right and timely decisions, the political system has reacted with unprecedented maturity and consensus, the armed forces and security forces have successfully carried out their duties showing professionalism and a great spirit, and society supported those who threw themselves into battle on both sides,” he said.
Turkey's decision to open the border came after more than 30 Turkish soldiers were killed by the forces of the Bachar al-Asad regime in Idlib, northwest Syria. Since then, the Eurasian nation has insisted that it cannot face another migration wave; while the EU country is on alert to prevent a repeat of the clash that took place on the Evros border a few months ago. In the event of an increase in the arrival of migrants, Greece would have to establish an isolation zone next to the existing reception facilities, as reported by several local media. Be that as it may, both Ankara and Athens are now faced with the challenge of preventing the coronavirus from becoming a further threat to all the people living in the refugee camps in Greece.
Similarly, it should be noted that the massive influx of refugees on the border between the two countries since early March, and the maritime agreement signed between Turkey and Libya in November 2019 are two of the issues that have highlighted the tense relationship between Ankara and Athens. The document signed between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based National Accord Government (NAG), led by Fayez Sarraj, has put Greece's economic interests in the eastern Mediterranean at risk. In the midst of this dialectical war, there are thousands and thousands of people whose only crime has been to dream with a future where peace is possible.
