(AP) Four people have been arrested on the Greek island of Lesbos after violence broke out during a protest against plans to build a new migrant camp, authorities said Tuesday. Following a peaceful march to the site in heavy rain Monday, a […]
(AP) Hundreds of people marched through central Athens on Sunday to protest what they say are Greece’s pushbacks of migrants and refugees at the border with Turkey. The marchers carried an inflatable dinghy, like those migrants use to cross the sea from […]
(Kathimerini) Coast guard[s] on Kos have arrested four people — two Greeks and two non-nationals — on suspicion of smuggling migrants from the Turkish coast to the island for €4,000 a person. The arrests followed the discovery of a speedboat on January […]
(Kathimerini) The municipal council of Orestiada in northeastern Greece is convening Tuesday to discuss controversial plans by the government to expand a migrant reception and identification center on the outskirts of the border village of Fylakio. The plan for the center is […]
(AP) Police in Italy, Albania and Greece on Wednesday arrested some 30 people accused of profiteering several hundred million euros to smuggle refugees and migrants into the European Union from Turkey on yachts and other leisure vessels. The coordinated action is believed […]
(AFP) French right-wing presidential hopeful Valerie Pecresse on Saturday slammed the EU’s “sieve-like” borders for allowing migrants to enter undetected and backed calls for barbed-wire fences to prevent them crossing illegally into the bloc. Pecresse, whom polls show as President Emmanuel Macron’s […]
(AP) French presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse stressed the need for strong European borders Friday, during a visit to Greece that will also see her visit a camp for asylum seekers on an Aegean island used by migrants to enter Europe from neighboring […]
(Kathimerini) A growing number of residents on the eastern Aegean island of Chios are opposing the planned creation of a closed camp for migrants. Reactions culminated during Thursday’s public holiday, when several hundred residents gathered at the port to prevent machinery that […]
(Kathimerini) Residents and local officials on the island of Chios have blocked a ship carrying construction machinery for the new planned migrant “closed controlled access center” from docking on Thursday. Residents of the island had also blocked the ship from docking at […]
(Euronews) Migration once again became a key issue for Europe this past year as tensions flared up at the EU’s border with Belarus. Hundreds of migrants gathered at the bloc’s border as the EU accused Belarus of waging a hybrid war and […]
(Kathimerini) An estimated 11,900 refugees and migrants crammed onto 120 yachts or sailboats are believed to have made it from Turkey to Italy via Greece this year, as the method has been gaining popularity among migrant smuggling rackets on the other side […]
(Kathimerini) A 40-year-old Iraqi man was remanded in prison on Monday after he testified before a prosecutor about his alleged involvement in the ISIS terrorist organization. The man was arrested by counterterror officers in central Athens last week on suspicion of involvement […]
(AP) Three people have been charged with murder in Greece following the death of 16 migrants who were killed when a boat transporting them from Turkey to Italy capsized, authorities said Monday. The suspects were among 63 people rescued following the tragedy […]
(AFP) Greek coast guards scoured for survivors in the Aegean Sea on Saturday after the latest in a series of migrant boat accidents that have killed at least 30 people in just days. Late Friday, the coastguard found 16 bodies, including those […]
(Kathimerini) Greek intelligence and counterterror authorities had been keeping a close eye on a 39-year-old Iraqi suspected of large-scale migrant smuggling before the official launch of the operation against him earlier this month, Kathimerini has learned. According to court records, Thakir M. […]
(AFP) Greek counter-terrorism authorities have arrested a 40-year-old Iraqi man on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State group (IS), police said Thursday. The man arrived in Greece from Syria, a police official told AFP, adding that he will appear before a […]
(Kathimerini) The government will expand the border fence with Turkey in the country’s northeast by 26km, Civil Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos told MPs on Friday. Addressing the Parliamentary Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affair[s], he said in addition to repairing the […]
(Kathimerini) A 39-year-old Iraqi who was arrested in central Athens on Tuesday on migrant trafficking charges is on a list of Islamic terrorism suspects, state officials have confirmed to Kathimerini. Mohammed T. was arrested with an Egyptian, nicknamed “Abu George,” in an […]
(AFP) Pope Francis on Saturday blamed the EU’s nationalist divisions for a lack of coordination on migration as he began a landmark trip to Greece, aiming to improve complicated relations with the country’s Orthodox Church. Francis said that Europe was “torn by […]
(AFP) The European Union should be prepared for more migrant crises like the ones on the Greece-Turkey and Poland-Belarus borders, the head of the EU’s border agency told AFP in an interview. Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri also said the agency was working […]
(AP) Greece accused Turkey on Tuesday of acting like a “pirate” in waters between the two regional rivals, claiming that its coast guard escorted and tried to push into Greek waters a boat of migrants who were trying to illegally reach Greece. […]
(AP) Police in North Macedonia say they have discovered 42 migrants in a truck in the southeastern part of the country near the border with Greece. A police patrol car followed the truck Saturday near the town of Star Dojran, 160 kilometers […]
(Kathimerini) Police in Athens have arrested three men accused of being part of a racket that helped undocumented migrants fly to other parts of the European Union for a fee ranging from €4,500 to €6,000 per person. Police said Saturday the suspects […]
(Kathimerini) The government wants to extend the fence on the Greek-Turkish border in Evros, recent diplomatic initiatives by Greek officials in Brussels have demonstrated. Kathimerini understands that Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter to the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva […]
(Kathimerini) The investigation into the case of the 34-year-old Iraqi man arrested on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State last month … has been stepped up as he has named other individuals who were involved in ISIS and who […]
(JTA) The highest court in Greece has ruled against allowing ritual slaughter, fulfilling fears that some Jewish leaders voiced last year after the European Union’s top court ruled in support of such bans. Last December, the EU’s highest court upheld the bans […]
(AFP) Pakistani asylum seeker Mohamed Bilal was 15 when he arrived in Greece. Five years later, he’s lost all hope and is on the road again, desperate for a better life elsewhere. Since the conservative government took office in 2019, Greece has […]
(Kathimerini) French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has praised the “Greek model” of migration control and vowed France’s support in bolstering border security when it assumes the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency on January 1. “We ask other southern EU countries to do […]
(AP) Greece will increase the number of border guards on the country’s border with Turkey, fearing a spike in illegal migration linked to the crisis in Afghanistan, officials said Monday. An additional 250 officers will join the 1,500-strong border force over several […]
(Anadolu) A court in northern Greece has postponed the trial of a religious leader of the country’s Muslim Turkish minority elected in defiance of Greek authorities who have sought to appoint the holder of [the] post. Ibrahim Serif, the elected mufti of […]
(Reuters) The European Union’s executive called for an investigation on Thursday into illegal migrant pushbacks after a report by German media outlets Der Spiegel and ARD documented what they said were Greek and Croatian officials carrying out such operations. The joint report […]
(Kathimerini) An Iraqi asylum-seeker who was arrested in Athens on Monday on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State terror group is to be formally charged by a prosecutor on Tuesday. The 34-year-old was taken into custody in his home […]
(AP) Greek counterterrorism police on Monday arrested an asylum-seeker in central Athens who is suspected of membership in the Islamic State group, authorities said. A police statement said the 34-year-old man’s arrest followed cooperation with Greece’s EYP intelligence agency and information provided […]
(Reuters) Greece will not allow a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis to unfold on its borders following the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday after visiting a new migrant camp on an island near Turkey. The […]
(AP) Greece’s prime minister says he is “unapologetic about defending” Greece’s borders in the face of uncontrolled migration attempts, but insists his country is doing so in a manner that respects human rights. Greece has come under strong criticism from rights groups, […]
(Kathimerini) The Council of Appeals judges in Thessaloniki on Wednesday approved the extradition of a Moroccan man to his country, where he is wanted on terrorism charges. The man, aged 28, had been sought on an international warrant issued by Moroccan authorities […]
(AFP) A major fire that broke out Sunday evening at the Vathy migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos was brought under control, the Greek Ministry of Migration said. “There is no danger for those who are still there because the […]
(Politico) Fifteen minutes outside the town of Vathy stands a just-completed compound, surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence. The entrance, only open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., is equipped with turnstiles, magnetic gates and X-ray machines. Guards check both ID cards […]
(Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday Turkey was an important partner in tackling any new migration challenge to Europe and needed support, and that Europe itself has not delivered on a common policy in addressing the migrant issue. More […]
(AFP) In a tented courtyard in the migrant camp on Greece’s Leros island, a dozen new arrivals await registration after two weeks in Covid-19 quarantine. “You can submit a claim for asylum, but only in Greece,” a young Greek official tells them […]
(AP) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to “break and smash” the human trafficking networks that smuggle migrants across the border from Turkey. Mitsotakis, in a news conference Sunday following his Saturday keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair, also said, […]
(Politico) In Greece, officials are swiftly erecting patrol units and surveillance systems to intercept any Afghans crossing into the EU — and they say the EU should help foot the bill. Officials back in Brussels have refused, insisting any payments must be […]
(AFP) One year after fire ripped through the notorious Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, the authorities say they’ve tackled the critical overcrowding and brought order to the chaos. Critics counter they achieved this through a policy of forcibly […]
(Anadolu) Greece must put an end to its interventionist practices and policies of pressure against Muslim religious leaders elected by the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Saturday. Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement came on Twitter after Ibrahim Serif, the […]
(Kathimerini) Europe’s top human rights watchdog has lambasted Greece’s new bill aiming to regulate the deportations and returns of migrants, saying it poses serious restrictions on the activities of NGOs trying to save lives in the Aegean. “The Greek parliament should reconsider […]
(Kathimerini) The creators of the giant puppet Little Amal, which is on a 5,000-mile journey from Turkey to Britain to highlight the plight of Syrian refugees and the stories of the millions of youngsters traveling alone, cancelled the procession of the figure […]
(Kathimerini) Police were required to intervene in Larissa on Tuesday after a small group of protesters reacted angrily to the procession of a giant puppet depicting a nine-year-old refugee girl through the Thessalian capital. Little Amal is traveling 8,000 kilometers from the […]
(AP) The European Union should assist Afghans in Afghanistan and in neighboring countries to avoid a new migration wave, Turkey’s president told Greece’s prime minister in a telephone call Friday. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed developments in Afghanistan in […]
(Kathimerini) Preparing for the possibility of migration pressure from Turkey in the coming weeks due to the developments in Afghanistan, law enforcement authorities, the coast guard and the armed forces are drafting plans to police and shield the Evros land border and […]
(Reuters) Greece does not want to become the entry point into the European Union for Afghans fleeing the escalating conflict in their homeland, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Tuesday, calling for a common EU response to the crisis. Greece was on […]
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