Teargas fired on Greek-Turkish border as migrant tensions flare
Send a link to a friend
[March 07, 2020]
By Lefteris Papadimas
KASTANIES, Greece (Reuters) - Teargas and
smoke bombs clouded a Greek-Turkish land border on Saturday in a fresh
flare-up in tensions over migrants seeking access to European Union
territory.
A Reuters correspondent in the area said the projectiles were coming
from Turkish territory and being fired towards Greek police near the
crossing at Kastanies. Some tear gas was also being fired by Greek
police.
Meanwhile hundreds of people could be seen on the Turkish side of the
high perimeter fence, with some pushing at it.
Thousands of migrants have been trying to get into Greece, an EU member
state, since Turkey said on Feb. 28 it would no longer try to keep them
on its territory as agreed in 2016 with the EU in return for billions of
euros in aid.
Turkey argued it could no longer contain the hundreds of thousands of
migrants it hosts, or the likelihood of more refugees on the way from
intensified fighting in northwestern Syria, but Greece has sought to
keep out the fresh influx.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Mar/07/images/ads/current/ccaonline_sda_APRILSHOWERS_2020.png)
Greek soldiers and riot police have been manning the borderland, as
thousands of migrants have made a rush for the frontier in recent days.
Their Turkish counterparts have been stationed on the other side.
Greek officials say authorities have thwarted thousands of attempts by
migrants to cross in the past eight days. Over a 24-hour period by
Saturday morning, there were more than 1,200 attempts to cross and 27
arrests, a government source said. Most of the migrants were from
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/030720pics/news_r33.jpg)
Greek soldiers and riot police officers stand guard as tear gas is
being fired near Turkey's Pazarkule border crossing, in Kastanies,
Greece March 7, 2020. REUTERS/Florion Goga
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
"Greece is doing what every sovereign state has the right to do, to
protect its border from any illegal crossings," Greek Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the CNN network on Friday night.
"I'm afraid this is a constant and very systematic provocation on
Turkey's behalf which has nothing to do with the plight of these
people. They are being used by Turkey."
Heavy machinery was moved to the border crossing area on the Greek
side on Saturday morning and a bulldozer was seen digging
embankments close to Kastanies.
Turkey on Friday accused the European Union of using migrants as
political tools and allowing international law to be "trampled",
after EU foreign ministers said they would work to stop illegal
migration into the bloc.
The EU on Friday pleaded with migrants on the Turkish border to stop
trying to cross into Greece but dangled the prospect of more aid for
Ankara as the standoff entered a second week.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing
by Alison Williams and Frances kerry)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |