(Kathimerini) Turkey’s foreign minister has repeated claims about Greece’s Muslim minority that Athens has criticized in the past. Chairing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers during the group’s Annual Coordination Meeting held on the sidelines of the 80th […]
(Proto Thema) Even claiming to be a member of ISIS, the 32-year-old Palestinian, now in police custody for the Hymettus arsons and sexual assaults against underage girls and a 58-year-old woman in Aigaleo, made shocking statements. In his testimony to the Arson […]
(Kathimerini) The number of irregular crossings by migrants detected in Crete in the first eight months of the year increased by more than 310% compared to last year, preliminary figures released by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, have shown. […]
(AP) Greece’s parliament approved a three-month suspension of asylum claims for migrants arriving from Libya on Friday, despite strong criticism from the United Nations refugee agency and Europe’s top human rights official. The measure suspends asylum application processing for those arriving by […]
(Politico) Greece’s newly appointed migration minister has said the government plans to introduce new “disincentives” to migrants as part of a crackdown on arrivals following an influx from Libya in recent weeks. Thanos Plevris said the country’s conservative New Democracy government is […]
(AP) Greece said Wednesday it is temporarily suspending asylum applications for migrants arriving on the island of Crete following a spike in arrivals from Libya. More than 2,000 migrants have landed on the Mediterranean island since the weekend, according to coast guard […]
(AP) Authorities in Greece say more than 1,200 migrants have been detained on the island of Crete and the nearby islet of Gavdos over the past three days, following a surge in arrivals from Libya. The coast guard said multiple boats were […]
(AP) The European Union’s commissioner for migration says Europe will take a “firm” approach with authorities in Libya following a spike in illegal migration across the Mediterranean. Commissioner Magnus Brunner plans to travel to Libya next week with government representatives from Greece, […]
(Al-Jazeera) Greek police have arrested an Azerbaijani national suspected of spying on a NATO base on the island of Crete. Local media reported on Monday that the man was detained the previous day on suspicion of espionage. Authorities are reportedly investigating whether […]
(Kathimerini) Greece’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday dismissed Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s claims that the rights of a “Turkish minority” in northern Greece are being violated, calling them unfounded and contrary to international law. “The Treaty of Lausanne clearly defines the minority […]
(AP) Greece will end mass legalization programs for migrants and jail those awaiting deportation under tougher policies set to take effect this summer, Migration Minister Makis Voridis said Friday. Migrants with rejected asylum claims will face a minimum of two years in […]
(Reuters) Greece has prepared legislation that will introduce tougher penalties for rejected asylum seekers and speed up returns to their home countries, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday. The Mediterranean nation was on the frontline of a 2015-2016 migration crisis when […]
(Kathimerini) Minister of Migration and Asylum Makis Voridis has called for a more effective return system for third-country nationals residing illegally in the EU, emphasizing that without deportations, migration policy becomes “meaningless.” Briefing a parliamentary committee, Voridis presented the European Commission’s proposed […]
(AP) Greece was urged Tuesday to implement stronger legal safeguards at its borders and adopt a “zero-tolerance approach to summary returns” as reports of illegal deportations of migrants continue despite mounting international criticism. Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human […]
(Kathimerini) Greece has expressed strong concern over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks on his envisioned future of Cyprus during a visit to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus on Saturday, warning that any unilateral move to alter the status of the region […]
(Euronews) In the heart of Germany’s capital, a heated political debate has reignited over the boundaries of religious freedom in the public sphere. The Bundestag’s Green Party group has submitted a motion to abolish Berlin’s Neutrality Act (“Neutralitätsgesetz”), a law that prohibits […]
(Politico) The European Union’s border agency is so frustrated with Greece’s repeated pushbacks of migrants that it is considering calling on Brussels to bring disciplinary proceedings against Athens, a Frontex official told POLITICO and WELT. Fundamental Rights Officer Jonas Grimheden, who makes […]
(Kathimerini) Greece on Monday reiterated that the Treaty of Lausanne, the 1923 agreement that established the borders of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey after the end of World War I, “explicitly refers to a religious and not an ethnic minority in Thrace.” “The […]
(Politico) Greece could lose funding from Frontex as the European Union’s border agency investigates 12 open cases of potential human rights violations of migrants at its borders, the highest number of ongoing investigations by country across the bloc. The majority of the […]
(Reuters) Italian police said on Tuesday they had dismantled a migrant smuggling network, leading to the arrests in several countries of 15 Egyptians involved in using sailboats for dangerous illegal sea crossings from Turkey to Greece and Italy. According to an Italian […]
(BBC) Three migrants have been cleared on appeal of setting fire to the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos during the Covid pandemic. The juvenile court of Mytilene found the defendants not guilty, ruling that their involvement in […]
(Kathimerini) An Afghan national arrested by Greece’s coast guard as a suspected smuggler in connection with a migrant-carrying rubber dinghy that sunk off the coast of Lesvos on Thursday has been ordered into pre-trial detention following his testimony before an investigating magistrate […]
(Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that illegal migrants denied asylum by Greece should be returned to their country of origin, and he urged the European Union to provide a new list of “safe countries” to help speed up […]
(Kathimerini) The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union in the Eastern Mediterranean, which includes Greece, dropped by 35% in the first two months of 2025, to nearly 6,500, according to preliminary data collected by Frontex. After peaking at around […]
(AP) Authorities in Greece said Tuesday they detained 107 migrants in two separate operations near the island of Crete, as an official attributed an increase in people trying to cross the eastern Mediterranean to conflicts in the Middle East. A cargo ship […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish Minister of Education Yusuf Tekin accused Greece of shutting down schools belonging to the Muslim minority in Thrace during a speech on Sunday. Tekin claimed that the number of Muslim minority schools in the region has been reduced to just […]
(European Conservative) The image of Athens as one of Europe’s safest capitals is threatened by a wave of lawlessness, misogyny, and extremism imported by recent immigrants, many of them from Muslim-majority countries, primarily from Pakistan. Local analysts say that the increased number […]
(Kathimerini) A human smuggler threw a minor into the sea near Farmakonisi in the southeastern Aegean early Friday while attempting to evade Hellenic Coast Guard authorities. The child was rescued by a fellow migrant who jumped into the water, assisted by coast […]
(AP) The European Court of Human Rights in a landmark ruling Tuesday found that Greece illegally deported a woman back to neighboring Turkey, and described the use of summary expulsions, or “pushbacks,” as systematic. The decision could impact how Europe handles migrants […]
(Kathimerini) A 26-year-old Afghan man was arrested on Christmas Day for smuggling migrants into Greece, authorities reported on Thursday. The incident occurred early in the morning when a coast guard rescue boat spotted a disabled speedboat northeast of the island of Samos. […]
(Ynet) An Israeli man arrested in Greece last month on a German extradition warrant has reported severe abuse by Muslim inmates while awaiting a court decision. His wife claims he has been targeted for being Jewish, enduring beatings, death threats and antisemitic […]
(Kathimerini) It was early in the afternoon of December 1, 2023, when a black inflatable speedboat from Turkey, carrying migrants, ran aground just a few meters outside the marina on the island of Kos in the eastern Aegean. The subsequent investigation into […]
(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 […]
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