‘Invasion’ fears as Turkey triggers new EU migrant crisis
- As Turkey and Syria fighting escalates, refugees mass at EU border
- Greece on a state of alert as it faced an influx of thousands of migrants
An influx of migrants seeking refuge in Europe has raised tensions along the heavily fortified border with Turkey and prompted the Greek government to convene an emergency meeting.
While the Turkish side says more than 100,000 refugees have left the country so far, it remains unclear how many have crossed into Europe or got stuck in no man’s land along the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Another question is how many are escaping the conflict in Syria – many appear to be coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. Almost 15,500 people were prevented from entering Greece on the weekend, Greek officials said.
“This is an invasion,” said Giorgos Karampatzakis, mayor of Marassia village, a common border crossing near the Evros River, where some migrants have reportedly made it across.
The flow of migrants from Turkey has triggered EU fears of a re-run of the 2015 migrant emergency when Greece became the main EU entry point for a million migrants, most of them refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.
“This is what happened in 2015, it’s repeating itself. Thousands at our borders, God help us,” said a 63-year-old resident of the border village of Kastanies who gave her name only as Panayiota.