Greece has announced that it has completed the construction of a 40 km barrier at the border with Turkey, equipped with a new surveillance system, to block the possible influx of migrants after the reconquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban. This was reported by Reuters. Athens said its security forces are on high alert to prevent a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis when nearly one million people, mainly from the Middle East, crossed the Greek border into Turkey.
“We cannot passively wait for the possible impact” of the Afghan crisis, warned the Minister for Citizens’ Protection, Michalis Chrisochoidis, on the sidelines of a visit to the Evros region with the Defense Minister and the Chief of Staff. “Our borders will remain safe and inviolable,” he assured, explaining that the extension of the existing fence of 12.5 kilometers has been completed in recent days, together with a high-tech automated electronic monitoring system.
Yesterday the migrant issue was at the center of a phone call between the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Ankara leader stressed that Afghanistan and Iran – a key route for Afghans to Turkey – should be supported or a new wave of migration will be “inevitable”.