(AP) Greek authorities have recovered the bodies of four people from the sea just off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes, while another 25 people have been found alive on land after a migrant smuggler allegedly forced his passengers […]
(Reuters) Greece is considering setting up a migrant detention facility on the island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean to tackle a rise in arrivals from neighbouring Turkey, Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said on Tuesday. Hundreds of migrants have arrived on the […]
(AP) Greece is seeking stricter European Union migration policies as it braces for a potential surge in migrants and refugees due to ongoing war in the Middle East, a senior government official said Wednesday. Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said the government is […]
(European Conservative) Across Europe, authorities are bracing for a wave of protests and violence as the first anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel approaches. Ministers and security forces in several countries have warned of heightened unrest in major […]
(AP) One migrant died after smugglers piloting a speedboat from Turkey to an Aegean Sea island forced their passengers into the sea on Tuesday to avoid detection by marine patrols, Greek authorities said. The remaining 30 migrants on the vessel were unhurt, […]
(AP) Smugglers ferrying migrants from Turkey to Greece’s eastern islands have in two cases adopted the new and dangerous tactic of knocking some passengers off their speedboats into the sea to avoid capture by pursuing coast guards, Greek authorities say. All eight […]
(AP) The crew of a Greek coast guard vessel opened fire on a speedboat smuggling migrants — including several children — from neighboring Turkey killing one passenger, Greek authorities said Friday. A coast guard statement said shots were fired, first into the […]
(AP) Authorities on the southern Greek island of Crete detained 76 migrants early Tuesday after they arrived on three boats, as smugglers seek new routes in the region to evade coast guard patrols. The migrants from Syria, Egypt, Sudan and Bangladesh included […]
(Kathimerini) Greek diplomatic sources on Wednesday reacted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks about the Muslim minority in Thrace, emphasizing that minority members enjoy equality before the law and that their rights are fully respected. “Issues concerning the rule of law […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Wednesday that the only solution to the decades-long dispute over Cyprus is to establish two separate states on the island. “We can never forget the burned villages, the murdered children and the tragedies of […]
(AFP) More than 6,400 migrant children have entered Greece so far this year, more than four times the figure over the same period last year, the charity Save the Children said Wednesday. One in four came without a family member, a figure […]
(Reuters) Greece’s anti-terrorism police have arrested seven people over arson attacks against an Israeli-owned hotel and a synagogue in central Athens this year, police said in a statement on Thursday. A 25-year-old Greek woman, two Iranians aged 46 and 36 and an […]
(BBC) The Greek coastguard has caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over a three-year period, witnesses say, including nine who were deliberately thrown into the water. The nine are among more than 40 people alleged to have died […]
(Kathimerini) The Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, on Wednesday approved the extradition of a 30-year-old Moroccan man who is believed to be a member of the ISIS terrorist group. The man was arrested in Thessaloniki in July 2021 after a […]
(AP) Greek police have arrested six people who they say are members of a large human trafficking gang that violently extorted money from migrants to assist them in crossing into neighboring Albania and travel to European Union countries to the north. The […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in his speech at the Turkish National Assembly on Monday spoke of “Turkish minorities” in western Thrace and in the Dodecanese being a priority to the Turkish government. “The condition of the Turkish minority of western […]
(Kathimerini) A 37-year-old Syrian national, arrested for migrant trafficking Saturday, has admitted he is working for a trafficking ring and is being paid €1,500 per month for his work. The Syrian is thought by authorities to be the organizer of the transport […]
(Kathimerini) The Greek government and authorities have been very successful in fighting “illegal migration” by creating “an extremely secure land border” with a sturdy fence that was built very quickly to act as a deterrent, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said […]
(Kathimerini) An alarm was raised on Thursday night on the southeastern Aegean island of Leros when 123 Palestinian and Syrian refugees and migrants attempted to leave the migrant facility and board a ship destined for Piraeus, catching local officials by surprise. The […]
(Greek City Times) Palestinians and other Muslim migrants in the eastern Aegean island of Samos celebrated today’s Hamas attack on Israel. In a video first posted on TikTok, Palestinian and other Muslim migrants … chant in Arabic, “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great). […]
(Politico) Athens wants to expand a migration deal with Turkey, Greek Interior Minister Dimitrios Kairidis said. The European Union reached the contentious agreement with Turkey at the peak of the migration crisis in March 2016. It foresaw that all undocumented migrants arriving […]
(BBC) The EU’s top court has dismissed a case against European border agency Frontex, brought by a family of Syrian refugees who were sent out of Greece to Turkey in 2016. Lawyers for the family had argued the EU agency should be […]
(AP) More than 450 migrants reached Greece’s Aegean Sea islands in boats from Turkey in less than two days, Greek authorities said Thursday, including 51 people who made landfall on the high-end resort of Mykonos. The new arrivals come amid a steady […]
(Kathimerini) The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece by sea has more than doubled in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, according to updated data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Indicatively, the data showed […]
(AP) Greece’s government met on Friday to try to improve coordination on migration as a group of 102 migrants crossed by land from Turkey and other parts of the Mediterranean country saw a spike in arrivals by sea. The ministers for merchant […]
(AP) Greek authorities rescued 40 migrants from a sinking dinghy in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday and charged two of them with causing a shipwreck and endangering lives for allegedly scuttling the flimsy vessel as a coast guard boat approached. A coast […]
(Politico) Greece wants the EU to stop migrant boats before they even get to Europe. In an interview with POLITICO, newly appointed Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis called on the EU to resume an operation that aims to halt migrants before leaving […]
(Kathimerini) Greek officials said Friday that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis never discussed issues that concern Greek citizens or the country’s sovereign rights with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The officials were responding to claims by Erdogan that the “problems of Western Thrace” […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that the “problems of Western Thrace” was the “main issue” he raised with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius on Wednesday. “We want to […]
(Reuters) Greece should not be burdened with the task of managing migration for the European Union, or be accused of not saving people at sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday, a month after a deadly shipwreck. The Greek coast guard […]
(Times of Israel) The targets in an Iranian-planned attack in Cyprus included an Israeli real estate businessman and a Chabad House, as well as hotels and entertainment venues frequented by Israeli tourists, Channel 12 reported Monday. The report named the alleged targets, […]
(AP) Nine men suspected of crewing a migrant smuggling ship that sank off Greece leaving more than 500 missing were ordered held in pretrial custody Tuesday, as new accounts emerged on the sinking and the appalling conditions on the trip from Libya […]
(Anadolu) The desecration of a Quran by a French national in Greece’s Western Thrace region this week was meant to disturb public peace in the region, said one of the Turkish minority’s elected religious leaders on Friday. In his Friday sermon at […]
(Anadolu) A French citizen tore a copy of the Quran at a mosque in Greece’s Western Thrace, representatives of the region’s local Turkish minority said Thursday. Upon a complaint filed by locals who witnessed the provocative act in the Iskece (Xanthi) province’s […]
(Kathimerini) SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance President Alexis Tsipras accused New Democracy leader and prime minister at the time Kyriakos Mitsotakis of lying and saying that he informed him before the election about alleged machinations of the Turkish consulate in the region of Rhodope in […]
(Kathimerini) Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras has met with Greece’s interim Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas amid the confrontation between SYRIZA and New Democracy over the Muslim minority in the northern Thrace region. Conservative officials have alleged that the May 21 election result in […]
(Anadolu) A key EU body on Thursday urged Athens to respect European court human rights rulings meant to protect Greece’s ethnic Turkish minority, including the 150,000-strong Turkish community in the northeast. Meeting in Strasbourg, France, the European Council Ministerial Committee expressed deep […]
(AP) A Moroccan migrant who was injured by gunfire while crossing from Turkey into Greece Thursday is being hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Greek officials said. A police statement said the 30-year-old man was found trying to cross the river Evros — Meric […]
(AP) Greek officials have launched a series of high-level contacts with the newly elected government in Turkey in an effort to counter a surge in attempted crossings by migrants over a river that divides the two countries. Defense Minister Alkiviades Stephanis spoke […]
(Kathimerini) SYRIZA has accused New Democracy of “blatantly underestimating the democratic vote of members of the Muslim minority” in Thrace after New Democracy said that two of SYRIZA’s MPs elected in the last election in the northeastern region were exponents of “the […]
(AP) Five police officers accused of cooperating with human traffickers to facilitate the entry of at least 100 migrants into Greece are being held in custody pending trial. The five officers had been testifying before an examining magistrate since Saturday morning at […]
(AP) Greek authorities said Monday they had arrested five police officers from a special border guard force on suspicion of working with smugglers to help migrants cross into the country from neighboring Turkey. A police statement said the five suspects are believed […]
(Politico) EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson criticized Greece for reportedly forcing migrants onto an emergency raft and abandoning them in the Aegean Sea. In an interview with POLITICO, Johansson said the episode was more than a pushback — when migrants are […]
(Politico) The EU called Monday on Greece to investigate allegations that it is abandoning migrants at sea amid concerns that the center-right government in Athens is violating EU law. The EU’s executive urged Greece to launch a probe into alleged illegal migrant […]
(AFP) Greece’s government came under pressure over its migration policies Friday after video footage emerged allegedly showing Greek coastguards expelling migrants by setting them adrift in the Aegean Sea. The footage, published by the New York Times, has sparked calls by the […]
(Politico) Greek voters will decide Sunday whether to harden the country’s line on migration by extending a border wall with Turkey, or elect the left-wing opposition Syriza party which has adopted a softer stance on the issue. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has […]
(AFP) Greece on Friday remanded into custody two Pakistani suspects accused of plotting an anti-Semitic attack after they testified before a magistrate, their lawyer said. The two men, aged 29 and 27, admitted exchanging messages concerning a possible attack on a Jewish […]
(Kathimerini) Two suspects of Pakistani origin are set to appear before an investigating magistrate on Friday on charges of planning an attack on a Jewish center in the busy downtown area of Psyri. The suspects allegedly received orders from a fellow Pakistani […]
(AP) Greece’s prime minister promised Friday to extend an existing wall across all of the country’s land border with Turkey as he campaigned for the country’s general election. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who called the May 21 election earlier this week, presided […]
(Kathimerini) Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday a fence being constructed at Greece’s northeastern border region of Evros will be completed “with or without European money.” “Tomorrow I will be in Evros and I will have the opportunity to sign the […]
Thank you for reading Eye on Islamism.