Greece – Page 3 – Eye on Islamism

Türkiye urges Greece to stop denying recognition to elected Muslim clerics Ankara urges Greece to respect rights of Western Thrace Turkish minority to elect their religious leaders, guaranteed by international agreements

September 6, 2022 Merve Aydogan

(Anadolu) Türkiye on Monday again urged Greece to respect the rights of the Turkish minority in its Western Thrace region and to stop denying recognition to elected Muslim clerics (muftis). Talking to Twitter, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Türkiye expects Greece […]

Greece blocked over 150,000 migrants this year: minister

September 4, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Greece has blocked over 150,000 undocumented migrants on its land and maritime border so far this year, the migration minister said Sunday. “The entry of 154,102 irregular migrants was averted since the start of the year. Around 50,000 attempted to invade […]

Official: 25,000 asylum-seekers kept out of Greece in August

August 24, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greek authorities have prevented some 25,000 people from entering the country illegally in less than a month, a government official said Wednesday, accusing neighbor and regional rival Turkey of channeling asylum-seekers toward Greece. That figure is more than three times the […]

Greece to expand fence, surveillance at border with Turkey

August 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greece will gradually extend a fence along its land border with Turkey and increase surveillance measures following an increase in illegal immigration from its eastern neighbor, the Greek government said Tuesday. The decision was taken during a meeting, chaired by Prime […]

Police in North Macedonia detain 26 migrants hidden in van

August 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia have detained 26 migrants thought to have entered illegally from neighboring Greece, and arrested a suspected smuggler who had been driving them in a van toward the northern border with Serbia. A police statement said the migrants […]

‘Provocative’ camp claims dismissed by Athens

August 19, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos on Friday dismissed recent statements by a Turkish minister that Greece is a “training center for terrorists” as provocative and outright lies. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Greece was training members of the Kurdistan Workers’ […]

Greece: 71 migrants aboard boat reaching southern island

August 19, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greek authorities on Friday raised to 71 the number of migrants aboard a sailboat that reached the southern island of Kythera a day earlier, the third crammed vessel to do so in two days. The boat, a sailing catamaran, was located […]

Clashes as Greek authorities evacuate Athens refugee camp

August 18, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Police and migrants faced off Thursday as Greek authorities started evacuating one of the last refugee camps in Athens, officials said, with videos showing authorities using tear gas and a flash grenade. The attempted eviction of the Eleonas camp, which hosts […]

3rd sailboat carrying migrants reaches southern Greek island

August 18, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greek authorities say another sailboat carrying dozens of migrants arrived Thursday at Kythera, the third in just under two days to make it to the southern island that isn’t on the usual route for asylum-seekers trying to reach the European Union. […]

2 sailboats carrying dozens of migrants reach Greek island

August 17, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Two sailboats carrying dozens of migrants arrived on a southern Greek island early Wednesday, with the first one running aground on rocks. Nobody was reported injured or missing. The coast guard said the first sailboat, which ran aground on the southern […]

Turkey pushed migrants into Greece, minister says

August 16, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) A day after police said they found 38 migrants who had been reported stranded on an islet in the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border, Greece on Tuesday accused Turkey of pushing the migrants into Greek territory. During a visit to […]

Greek police find 38 migrants near Turkish border

August 15, 2022 Costas Kantouris

(AP) Greek police say they have found 38 migrants who had been reported stranded on an islet in the Evros River on the border between Greece and Turkey. Police announced they found 22 men, 9 women and 7 children Monday at a […]

N. Macedonia: Truck full of migrants overturns; 35 injured

August 11, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) A truck carrying Syrian migrants believed to have entered from neighboring Greece overturned on a road in North Macedonia, injuring 35 people, police said Thursday. A police statement said 49 people were in the heavy vehicle during the crash late Wednesday […]

Athens rebuffs Ankara on new law on Thrace muftis

August 4, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Greece rejected claims by Turkey that a new legal framework on the election of Muslim clerics (muftis) in Thrace, northeastern Greece, denies the community the right to elect their own muftis, saying it is “fully compatible with the constitution of Greece […]

Türkiye calls Greek move disclaiming minority Muslims’ local elected leaders ‘unacceptable’ Ankara urges Greece to respect international law, fulfill obligations stemming from Lausanne Peace Treaty on Turkish minority in Western Thrace

August 4, 2022 Merve Aydogan

(Anadolu) Türkiye on Thursday criticized Greece’s latest move denying recognition to the Turkish minority’s elected Muslim clerics (muftis), calling it “unacceptable.” In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Greece to respect international law and fulfill its contractual obligations under the longstanding […]

Greece charges 5 with smuggling 96 migrants to Italy by sea

August 2, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Five people were arrested on a Greek island Tuesday and charged with trying to smuggle nearly a hundred migrants into Europe on an unsafe vessel last week, using what appears to be a new direct sea route from crisis-afflicted Lebanon to […]

German envoy says EU rights must be defended at Greek border

July 28, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Germany’s top diplomat visited refugees at a camp in Greece on Thursday after stressing that European Union countries should do more to safeguard people seeking refuge from war and hardship. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited a Holocaust memorial in Athens […]

EU’s border agency deliberately, systematically cooperated with Greece in pushbacks: report EU Commission’s vice president acted more for Greece than as bloc’s senior official, says German magazine Der Spiegel

July 28, 2022 Ahmet Gencturk

(Anadolu) The European Union’s border agency, Frontex, has deliberately and systematically cooperated with Greece in illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers to Turkish waters, a German magazine reported Thursday. Findings of an investigation by OLAF, the bloc’s anti-fraud agency, on the dimension of […]

Turkey says Greece pushed migrant boat back into Turkish waters

July 25, 2022 Yesim Dikmen

(Reuters) Turkey on Monday accused Greece of pushing a boat carrying migrants out of Greek territorial waters and back into Turkish ones. The defence ministry in Ankara said the incident occurred on Sunday near Rhodes, and posted drone footage on social media […]

N. Macedonia: Police find 86 migrants, arrest truck driver

July 24, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia have found 86 migrants, including minors, crammed into a truck with an attached trailer in the southern part of the country and arrested the truck driver. The migrants from Pakistan, Syria and India were discovered late Saturday […]

Turkey’s Erdogan rails at Greece over Muslim minority rights

July 24, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday criticized Greece for allegedly violating a settlement that has governed relations between the rivals for nearly a century. In a statement released on the 99th anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, Erdogan accused Athens of […]

Athens shoots down Turkish allegations over minority schools in Thrace

July 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Greece’s Foreign Ministry has issued a terse response to allegations from Turkey regarding the closure of four minority primary schools in the northeastern province of Thrace, which Ankara claims constitutes a violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne provisions safeguarding the […]

Ahmet Mete, controversial ‘mufti’ among Greek Muslims, dies

July 14, 2022 Costas Kantouris and Demetris Nellas

(AP) Ahmet Mete, who was recognized by Turkey but not by Greece as the elected mufti for the Muslim population in the Xanthi region, died Thursday at age 57, his family said. The family did not discuss the cause of death, but […]

North Macedonia: Police find 87 migrants, arrest two men

July 9, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia say they have discovered 87 migrants crammed into a truck with a trailer in the southern part of the country and arrested two men for migrant smuggling. Police said the migrants, who included 45 Syrians, 39 Pakistanis, […]

EU tells Greece to stop ‘violent’ migrant deportations

June 30, 2022 Gabriela Baczynska

(Reuters) The European Union’s top migration official told Greece on Thursday to stop “violent” deportations of migrants or risk losing funds. After becoming one of the main destination points during the migration crisis of 2015, Athens has hardened its policy in the […]

Greece says stops over 1,000 migrants from Turkey

June 27, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Athens on Monday accused smugglers from Turkey of trying to send more than a thousand migrants to Greek islands, before the boats were detected in the Aegean and turned back. Greek Merchant Navy Minister Yannis Plakiotakis said Turkish smugglers had “tried […]

North Macedonia: Police find 24 migrants, arrest 2 locals

June 26, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia say they discovered 24 migrants hiding in a van on a major highway in the country’s south Sunday and arrested two men as suspected people smugglers. The two Macedonian nationals, 50 and 47 years old, were identified […]

Athens notes ‘Turkish hypocrisy’ over the appointment of muftis in Thrace

June 14, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Despite repeatedly criticizing Greece for appointing the Muslim community’s muftis in the region of Thrace, Turkey also appoints its own muftis at a central level, via a state agency, Greek diplomatic sources pointed out on Tuesday, highlighting “the hypocrisy of Turkey’s […]

Truck crashes fleeing Greek police: Migrant killed, 17 hurt

June 12, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) A pickup truck trying to evade pursuing police in northeastern Greece slammed into a fence, killing one migrant and injuring 17 others, including the driver, Greek police said Sunday. The accident took place Saturday in the northeastern region of Thrace, police […]

Plan to foil mass migrant entry from Turkey Hellenic Police and Coast Guard elaborating scenarios in case of repeat of 2020 Evros incident

June 8, 2022 Yiannis Souliotis

(Kathimerini) Amid rising acrimony with Turkey, plans are being drafted to deal with the possibility of an attempted mass entry of migrants into Greece at the instigation of Ankara in a repeat of the spring 2020 incident at the Evros land border. […]

Mediterranean nations criticize EU solidarity on migrants

June 4, 2022 Frances D'Emilio

(AP) Five European Union nations on the Mediterranean who fear possible waves of refugees driven by hunger out of Africa called Saturday for an end to the EU’s “voluntary” solidarity on migrants and a better way to redistribute the burden of caring […]

2 killed as Greek police chase stolen car carrying migrants

June 4, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Two people, one believed to be a migrant and the other the alleged trafficker, died Saturday in northern Greece while trying to evade a police checkpoint, police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki said. Twelve more people riding in the […]

Europe’s south expects over 150,000 migrant arrivals this year, minister says

June 4, 2022 Elvira Pollina

(Reuters) Mediterranean countries on major migrant routes into Europe expect over 150,000 arrivals this year as food shortages caused by the Ukraine conflict threaten a new migration wave from Africa and the Middle East. “This year the frontline member states are expected, […]

Greece planning major wall extension on border with Turkey

May 30, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greek authorities say they are planning a major extension of a wall along the country’s border with Turkey and are seeking European Union financial support for the additional construction. Notis Mitarachi, the migration affairs minister, said the steel wall would be […]

Greece blocked 40,000 migrants at Evros this year: govt

May 28, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Greece said Saturday some 40,000 illegal migrants had been blocked from entering the country along the northern border with Turkey since the beginning of the year. Greece is often the country of choice for migrants fleeing Africa and the Middle East […]

Greece says it won’t allow illegal entry of migrants by land or sea

May 24, 2022 Lefteris Papadimas

(Reuters) Greece warned on Tuesday that it would not allow the illegal entry of migrants by land or by sea, after a sharp increase in attempted entries through its Aegean islands and land border with Turkey over the past few days. The […]

Greece says hundreds of migrants stopped from crossing Aegean

May 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Greece said on Monday it had prevented around 600 migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea into its territorial waters from neighbouring Turkey, in the largest attempted entry this year. A spokesman for the Greek coastguard said five sail boats and four […]

Erdogan opponents allege Greek border pushbacks

May 12, 2022 Marina Rafenberg

(AFP) For years Greece has been accused of illegally pushing asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a practice it strenuously denies. But according to witnesses and rights groups, the summary deportations are also hitting vulnerable opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kurdish writer […]

EU border agency boss quits over alleged mismanagement

April 29, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Fabrice Leggeri, a figurehead for impenetrable European frontiers who was frequently accused of tolerating illegal “pushbacks” of migrants, has resigned as head of Frontex, the border agency said Friday. The Frontex board made the announcement after holding a two-day meeting “in […]

Police find 18 migrants in North Macedonia, nab car driver

April 25, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia say a patrol discovered 18 migrants in the south of the country and arrested the driver after a brief chase. A police statement released Monday said the 18 migrants, 14 Syrians and 4 Pakistanis, were discovered late […]

Greece: Syrian asylum-seekers found on sailboat near Athens

April 19, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greek authorities say they are searching for the captain of a small Polish-flagged sailboat found moored in a bay on the island of Salamina, near the country’s largest port of Piraeus, carrying five Syrian nationals who had been smuggled into the […]

Greek police: Migrant shot dead while crossing from Turkey

April 17, 2022 Costas Kantouris and Demetris Nellas

(AP) A migrant was killed by gunfire at the Greece-Turkey border while she and several others attempted to cross a river separating the two countries, Greek police said Sunday. It wasn’t immediately clear who fired the shot that killed the woman on […]

Police on Rhodes arrest suspected migrant traffickers

April 11, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Police on Rhodes announced on Monday that they arrested four foreigners suspected of involvement in a criminal organization that trafficked migrants to the island. Those arrested come from Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. The group allegedly collected migrants from beaches and transported […]

Rights group: Greece used migrants to expel asylum seekers

April 7, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused authorities in Greece of allegedly using migrants to help carry out summary, illegal deportations of asylum seekers at the country’s border before they are able to register their claims. The New York-based rights group based […]

Greece: 2 arrested from sailboat in distress with 70 aboard

April 5, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Two people were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling and endangering lives for steering a sailboat carrying 68 others that ran into trouble off Greece’s western coast last week, the coast guard said Tuesday. The coast guard said the two — […]

Greece says ‘no provision’ in Lausanne treaty for election of mufti

March 30, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Greece told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday that there is no provision in the Treaty of Lausanne, a 1923 peace accord which, among other things, forged modern Greece and Turkey’s borders, stating that the muftis of the Muslim minority […]

Greek independent authority rejects migrant pushback claims

March 29, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Greece’s independent authority for transparency said Tuesday that after an in-depth investigation it has found no basis for reports that Greek authorities have illegally turned back asylum-seekers entering the country from Turkey. The National Transparency Authority said in a statement that […]

Police in northern Greece net migrant smuggling gang

March 15, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) In an operation carried out with help from the European police agency Europol, law enforcement authorities in northern Greece have dismantled what they believe to be a large migrant smuggling ring. According to an announcement released by the Hellenic Police (ELAS) […]

Ankara steps up unfounded pushback allegations

February 26, 2022 Vassilis Nedos

(Kathimerini) Ankara has taken its allegations of human rights violations by Greece to the United Nations, accusing it of pushbacks and refugee and migrant deaths in the Aegean. The Turkish allegations are included in the letter sent by the permanent representative of […]

UN alarmed at increasing reports of Greek migrant pushbacks

February 21, 2022 Nicholas Paphitis

(AP) The U.N. refugee agency on Monday voiced alarm at increasing reports of “horrific incidents” where asylum-seekers and migrants trying to slip into Greece and other European countries are allegedly being forced back. Athens denied the claims, and said the UNHCR appeared […]