ATHENS —
Greece has blocked over 150,000
undocumented migrants on its land and maritime border so far this year, the
migration minister said Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
“The entry of 154,102 irregular migrants was averted
since the start of the year. Around 50,000 attempted to invade Greece in August
alone,”
Notis Mitarachi told Eleftheros Typos daily.
Border control is a top priority for the
conservative Greek government that came to power in 2019, and will seek
re-election next year.
Last month, the government announced plans to extend
a 40km long wall along the Greek-Turkish border at Evros by another 80km as
part of efforts to control the flow of migrants.
It will also install thermal cameras and deploy an
additional 250 border guards.
Greece is often the country of choice for people
fleeing Africa and the Middle East to try to reach a better life in the EU.
Thousands come via Turkey by crossing the Evros River, and over the narrow and perilous Aegean Sea crossing separating the
traditional rivals.
Charity groups have accused Athens of illegally
turning back migrants or forcing them over the border to Turkey — something
Greece’s conservative government has repeatedly denied.
Mitarachi on Sunday denied Athens was involved in
illegal pushbacks, and accused Turkey of engaging in “violent push forwards”.
Athens last month accused Turkey of forcibly pushing
a group of stranded migrants onto a small Greek islet on the river.
Rights groups at the time said a five-year-old child
in the group had died after the Greek government for days denied that the
migrants were on Greek territory.
Mitarachi has cast doubt on the incident. On Sunday
he insisted that the family in question has declared having four children, and
that they were all rescued by Greek police.
“To put it very simply, the family brought forward
four children, and four we rescued,” he said.
“Many
inconsistencies have been noted in what (the family) said at the beginning,
what they said afterwards, and in what has been proven so far,” the minister
said.
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