(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 […]
(Kathimerini) One of the two Pakistani nationals arrested for planning to bomb a Jewish restaurant in central Athens, which doubled as a cultural and religious center, has already admitted his part in the plan, Kathimerini understands. The two will face an examining […]
(AFP) Greece is questioning eight additional suspects from Pakistan over an alleged plot to carry out anti-Semitic attacks in Athens, a police source said Thursday. “The investigation to determine if additional persons are involved is ongoing,” the police source told AFP. The […]
(AFP) Iran’s embassy in Greece on Wednesday denied any connection to an alleged plot for anti-Semitic attacks in Athens using Pakistanis of Iranian origin. “The embassy of the Republic of Iran strongly denies the rumours spread by Zionist sources and their baseless […]
(AP) Greek authorities said police were continuing searches in Athens and other parts of the country Wednesday following the arrest of two suspects accused of planning an attack at [a] Jewish center in a busy downtown area of the Greek capital. The […]
(Kathimerini) Authorities in the Evia town of Halkida are investigating the attempted gang rape of an 11-year-old resident of a migrant and refugee camp in Ritsona, northeast of the capital. According to state broadcaster ERT, the young Somali refugee told investigators that […]
(AP) Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday said his country’s intelligence agency Mossad helped Greece prevent a terrorist attack planned against at least one Jewish site in Athens. Greek authorities said earlier that two men described as being of Pakistani origin, […]
(AFP) Hundreds of refugees protested against Greece’s tough migration policies in Athens on Saturday, accusing the conservative government of “murdering” asylum seekers through illegal pushbacks. “Stop pushbacks, down with the government of murderers,” read one of the banners at the rally in […]
(AP) Three migrants and a suspected smuggler were seriously injured in North Macedonia when a car that police were pursuing overturned early Sunday, authorities said. Police said the car was carrying 11 migrants, five from Pakistan, three from India and three from […]
(AP) Less than a week after a deadly migrant shipwreck off Italy, five European Union countries on the Mediterranean Sea pushed back Saturday against their northern neighbors for not accepting asylum-seekers under a voluntary relocation initiative. The ministers responsible for migration policy […]
(Kathimerini) The 35-kilometer extension of the border fence between Greece and Turkey at Evros will be completed in the next 10 months, Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos told Skai on Sunday. The contractor for the extension has already been selected and the […]
(Anadolu) Türkiye on Sunday reaffirmed its support for the legitimate struggle of the Turkish minority of the Western Thrace region in Greece. Marking the Jan. 29 National Day of Resistance and Social Solidarity of Western Thrace, the Foreign Ministry said the people […]
(Kathimerini) One of the 38 refugees stranded on an islet along the Greek-Turkish border last summer has come forward to claim that the alleged death of a 5-year-old Syrian girl on the islet was meticulously stage-managed. The man, a Syrian national, has […]
(AP) Greece prevented around 260,000 migrants from entering illegally in 2022 and arrested 1,500 traffickers, an official said Saturday. Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos was speaking to ambassadors from other European Union countries plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom as he guided […]
(AFP) Greek police said Friday that they had broken up a network trafficking illegal migrants on the Turkish border, making seven arrests. Police said the suspects were due to appear later Friday before the public prosecutor in the city of Thessaloniki, where […]
(Anadolu) Greece’s Turkish minority sent a letter Tuesday to the UN’s special rapporteur on minority issues about problems it is facing. The letter was sent by the Friendship and Equality Party (DEB) and was supported by numerous minority religious, educational, and civil […]
(AP) Greece’s migration minister says the number of migrants arriving in Greece has dropped dramatically over the past two years, while the number of asylum-seekers living in the country has also fallen. Speaking Tuesday at an event marking the third anniversary of […]
(AP) An appeals court in Greece has ordered the release of a Somali migrant who had been sentenced to life in prison for people smuggling, in a case that has drawn international attention to draconian border protection laws in the European Union […]
(Kathimerini) Interior Minister Makis Voridis has intervened to ascertain the legality of the decision by a mayor in Rodopi, northeastern Greece, to fire workers accused of being supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled cleric and preacher that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan […]
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