Turkey will build a wall on the border with Greece to prevent the irregular entry of migrants into the European Union. Greece has always been one of the main destinations of migratory flows, many of which come from the Anatolian peninsula. Turkey has been hosting millions of Syrian refugees for years, many of whom have tried to escape in Europe in the past. But after the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the conquest of power by the rebels of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), led by Mohammed Al-Jolani, the EU member countries would like to postpone the refugees welcomed in recent years and are studying strategies to achieve this.
The wall
The announcement of the construction of the wall on the border with Greece was made by the governor of the north-western Turkish province of Edirne. “There are plans to build a first stretch of 8.5 kilometers this year,” said Yunus Sezer, governor of the province who borders both Greece and Bulgaria. The politician specified that other sections of the wall will be built later, always along the border between the two nations, which is about 200 kilometers long and almost entirely formed by the Meric river, or Evros in Greek.
Sezer also said that the local administration built 325 kilometers of roads along the border line last September and that this year, with the support of the ministries of the interior and defense, the construction of electro-optical towers and other infrastructures have continued to monitor and prevent irregular crossings. Now, as part of the “strengthening” project of the border, the Governorate will build walls and fences in the areas where there are only patrol roads.
The problem of migrants who try to arrive in Europe from Türkiye has been particularly relevant in the last decade. In 2016, an agreement between the European Union and Turkey was signed so that the country governed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blocked and hosted the Syrian refugees on its own territory fleeing the civil war, whose number is currently estimated at 2.9 million people.
To prevent new entrances in the Anatolian peninsula, in recent years Ankara has built walls for a total of over a thousand kilometers along the borders with Iran and Syria. To curb the phenomenon, Athens also strengthened border controls along the terrestrial and maritime border with Turkey, also resorting to the construction of walls and fences.
The return home of the Syrian refugees
Today (Wednesday 5 March), in Brussels, the EU Council Internal Affairs will discuss the migratory theme, and one of the points on the agenda will be the treatment of Syrian refugees present on European territory. Several governments believe that there is no longer needing to protect them and that they should be postponed to their country of origin.
Some states, including Italy, havetened to block all the new asylum requests from the Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime, but very few have returned to home, which remains unstable and dangerous. For this reason, the twenty -seven ministers will examine the concept of “control visits”, that is, the possibility for Syrian refugees to temporarily go to their country to evaluate if they feel safe, without automatically losing the right to visa in the host country.
If they consider Syria still a dangerous place, they should be able to return to the country that is welcoming them. The Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Magnus Brunner, said that Brussels intends to support the Member States in facilitating “less expensive return routes, as well as better prepared and more dignified repatriation”.
