Over 5,000 migrants still waiting at Turkey-Greece Border to cross

There are still more than 5,000 migrants waiting at Turkey’s border with Greece to cross over into Europe. Ankara maintains that some 145,000 migrants have crossed over to Europe from Turkey, a number that Greece vehemently refutes.

Wednesday March 18 2020 01:39 pm

Duvar English

Some five thousand migrants are still waiting at Turkey’s border with Greece to cross over into Europe, said Atay Uslu, Chairman of the Parliamentary Immigration and Integration Commission, following a visit to the border camp March 4.

Ankara’s Feb. 28 decision merely allowed crossings, Uslu said, but Turkey doesn’t “force anyone to cross over.”

Simply not preventing migrant crossings to Europe was the essence of Ankara’s Feb. 28 decision after a Russian-Syrian airstrike on a Turkish convoy in Idlib killed dozens of soldiers.

“We no longer prevent those who wish to cross over to Europe, nor do we force anyone to cross over,” Uslu said.

Ankara maintains that some 145,000 migrants have crossed over to Europe from Turkey, a number that Greece vehemently refutes.

Turkey, on the other hand, has repeatedly condemned Greece’s military intervention at the Pazarkule-Kastanies Border Gate in the Thracian province of Edirne.