Greece plans to extend fence on land border with Turkey

Greece's citizen protection minister has said that Athens is set to build up its border fence with Turkey in an effort to curb the flow of migrants.

Tuesday September 06 2022 05:50 pm

The Greek customs checkpoint can be seen on the border area between Greece and Turkey on 14 June 2021 in Kastanies, Greece.

Reuters

Greece plans to extend a cement and barbed-wire fence along its northern border with Turkey to prevent migrants from entering the country, its citizen protection minister said on Sept. 6.

The 40-kilometres fence will be extended by another 140 kilometres, Takis Theodorikakos said during a visit in the region of Evros.

The fence, initially installed in 2012, was last extended in 2021, a year after tens of thousands of asylum seekers tried to cross into the European Union through Greece's northern border, when Turkey said it would no longer prevent them from doing so.

Historic rivals while also NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have been at odds over a range of issues, including migration and energy resources in recent years.

Greece was the frontline of Europe's migration crisis in 2015 and 2016 when a million refugees fleeing war and poverty from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived, mainly via Turkey.

The number of arrivals has fallen sharply since then, but in recent months, Greek authorities said they have stopped a significant number of people from entering.

According to police data, in the first seven months of the year, authorities arrested 7,484 refugees and migrants, of which 3,554 were in Evros.

Theorodikakos said the project aims to send a clear message of Greece's determination "against those who invest in human suffering to serve concealed interests" and "against those who weaponise migration in an attempt to blackmail Europe".

The conservative government also plans to hire 250 border guards and upgrade its surveillance systems in the area.

Topics Turkey Greece Greece migrants