Turkey vows to stem migrant pushback as Greece braces for more

Turkey has sent 1,000 police officers to its border with Greece to stop the pushback of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe.

“We have deployed 1,000 fully equipped special force police as of this morning to prevent the pushbacks,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in Edirne, a city near the border.

Soylu claimed Greek border police wounded 164 migrants in their attempts to repel them back into Turkey. He said they are receiving treatment at Turkish hospitals.

“They tried to push back 4,900 people back to Turkey,” Soylu said of the Greek operations, accusing the EU border agency Frontex and Athens of “mistreatment” of migrants.

He further charged that European countries, Greece in particular, are spreading “wrong and fake information.” Greece has denied the claims of violence.

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Three migrants were killed while trying to enter Greece, Soylu claimed.

Greece denies charges that actions by its security forces have resulted in deaths.

Thousands of migrants have massed at the border at Pazarkule on the Turkish side, following Ankara’s decision to stop blocking them from reaching Greece and thereby entering the European Union.

Turkey – which hosts 4 million refugees, including 3.6 million Syrians – said it will no longer contain the refugee influx, due to a military escalation in Syria’s Idlib province, on Turkey’s border, that has displaced 1 million people.

Athens has said it will protect its borders and has not let the migrants in.

The Greece-Turkey border at Kastanies was calm on Thursday.

There were still many people gathered in a no-man’s land just beyond the border fence. Greek security was on standby in case the crowds made another push towards the border. 

Greece is already hosting tens of thousands of migrants in overcrowded camps on its islands and the mainland, most of whom arrived from Turkey in recent years and originally come from conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa.

The latest pressure on the EU border has left Brussels scrambling for measures to prevent a new surge of migrants, four years after a deal with Turkey hugely curbed the number of people making it into the bloc.

EU top officials and member states have stood resolutely by Greece in the past few days, despite accusations of heavy-handed tactics from rights groups and non-government organizations.

Meanwhile, senior EU officials have travelled to Ankara in a bid to bring it back in line with the deal. One option being floated is the prospect of more funding for Syrian refugees living in Turkey, if the country upholds its commitments.

On Thursday, EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic called on member states to commit new funding for Syrian refugees living in Turkey, once the bloc’s existing 6-billion-euro (6.72-billion-dollar) pot runs dry.

“We cannot simply walk away when our current funding expires. People’s livelihoods still depend on the support we have been providing,” Lenarcic told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). “Our work is not finished yet.”

The pressure Turkey is putting on the EU is “not a basis for negotiations,” Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said ahead of talks with his EU counterparts in Zagreb. If this stops, “we should be able to assess the real needs in Turkey,” he added.

The EU must continue to financially support Turkey’s efforts to host refugees, said his German counterpart Heiko Maas. In return, however, Turkey must stick to the migration deal.

Meanwhile, Frontex will launch its rapid border intervention in Greece next week, both on land and at sea, a spokesperson for the EU agency told dpa.

Frontex is planning to send around 100 emergency service officers to the Evros border region as of next Wednesday and will send equipment, boats or helicopters to the Greek Islands, Ewa Moncure said. The Frontex operation is planned for two months, but may by prolonged.

Soylu warned on Thursday that Turkey will open its border gates with Syria to refugees who want to pass through the country on their way Europe, unless it gives support to Ankara’s actions in Idlib. Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed there recently

“Three and a half million people in Idlib and at Turkey’s borders are right now in a difficult situation. The continued inhumane actions by the [Syrian] regime there will mean [our] border gates will open,” he said.

“Then, ultimately, everyone will be heading towards Europe.” (dpa)