By: Bogdan Sajovic
Unrest in Greek migrant centres. Increased concentration of migrants along the Greek-Macedonian border. Turkey is announcing the opening of its borders after the end of the pandemic. The accusations against the Greek border guard are part of a propaganda war.
Residents of Greek settlements in the province of Idomeni along the Greek-Macedonian border report that more and more migrants are coming to their area. Local authorities confirm the observations of the local population and believe that in these first spring days a new wave of third world migrants is preparing for the so-called Balkan migrant route. Migrants who want to get to the rich social security of mainly Western European countries. The Greek authorities believe that for the time being there are no “fresh” migrants coming from Turkey, or that they are still in the minority in this new accumulation of migrants in the Idomeni area. According to Greek authorities, these are mostly migrants who have spent the winter at migrant centres in Greece, and in the past few days have took off from the centres, and are now gathering around Idomeni, where they hope to find a way to cross the border into northern Macedonia. “Some hire drivers and drive to the area with a variety of vehicles,” say locals in Idomeni. “Others come by train, some come here on foot. They gather in groups to spend the night in the surrounding fields and wait for the opportunity to cross the border.”
A popular spot on migrant routes
Among migrants Idomeni is one of the most famous points on the way to the social welfare of Western Europe. During the great wave of migrants in 2015, tens of thousands of people passed through the area. Even in a later period larger crowds of migrants crossed the borders there.
In 2016, a group of 8,000 migrants crossed the border almost at once and headed west. Of course, a good number of a few small groups, numbering from a few dozen to a few hundred migrants, also crossed the border in this area, not even counting many other groups and individuals.
Idomeni is a very popular point on migrant routes also because a strong network of migrant-loving activists has been operating in the area in recent years to help migrants cross the border illegally. They were mostly from Greek NGOs funded by globalist elites, and partly from like-minded people from Western European countries. It was a well-organised network that carefully examined the “blind spots” of police border control and helped migrants cross the border at those points. The news spread like wildfire among migrants and that is why Idomeni is such a popular spot among migrants. This popularity was not even shaken by the incident years ago, when migrants tried to cross the border river, which was supposed to have a low water level, on the advice of “activists”, but it turned out to be misinformation. This false assumption claimed the lives of three migrants, but of course the migrant-loving activists did not hang this “mistake” on the big bell, nor did the media furiously look for the culprits for the deaths of the three migrants. Simply “oops” and bravely moving forward in the fight against a multicultural Europe.
Unrest in migrant centres
However, in these times of the Chinese virus pandemic, most Greek police personnel and equipment have been used to introduce measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in reduced border controls. “There is virtually no police presence,” the locals complain. “Once, three police cars were constantly patrolling the border, but now there are none. The police have used all the funds to fight the pandemic, whereas the migrants are barely cared for.”
Because of this it is of course not surprising that many migrants in such situations easily “checked out” of the migrant centres and set out on their way to the west. Moreover, in recent weeks employees of migrant centres across Greece have seen a marked increase in unrest among migrants gathered there. Incidents are taking place both among the migrants themselves and among the migrants and the staff employed there. There have been outbreaks of violence, and in a few cases migrants have also tried to burn down centres. The unrest is also noticeable at the migrant center in Idomeni, locals say. There have been several bloody fights between migrants in recent weeks. Clashes are taking place mainly between Pakistani and Afghan migrants, although tensions also prevail among other national groups.
Turkey is threatening again
As said, the actors of the mentioned problems are in the vast majority “old migrants” who came to Greece last autumn. The influx of fresh migrants, at least noticeable, from Turkey has not yet been detected. This does not mean, however, that this will not change soon. In fact, Turkish government circles are already announcing that, “as soon as the pandemic is over,” they will open the borders wide to the millions of migrants now in Turkey. Some believe that this is a normal blackmail of the Erdogan’s regime, who is trying to force several billion euros of “extra” financial aid from the European Union by threatening to open the borders for mass migration, in which, as experience shows, he always succeeds. This is a big mistake for Europe. Firstly, by succumbing to blackmail, it tells Erdogan that it is weak, and secondly, it throws valuable resources into the wind that would come in handy if Erdogan carried out the threat despite the money he received. Namely, there is no guarantee that he will actually stick to his part of the agreement, not to mention his frequent statements that migrants, who are predominantly Muslim, will conquer all of Europe in the future “without a shot fired”.
Propaganda war
Some experts believe that Turkey may soon be able to open its borders to migrants, as evidenced by statements by Turkish authorities accusing Greeks of mass torturing and robbing and even killing migrants. The Turks claim that the Greek Coast Guard tied the hands of a group of migrants and swept them into the sea. This is, of course, a rather transparent lie. How could two migrants with their hands tied endure in the sea for long hours until they were “rescued” by the Turks? And why would the Greeks even rescue migrants from the sea and then throw them back into the water again? The boat could simply be run over or sunk in some other way.
The Greeks believe that all these stories about harassing migrants are deliberate propaganda, with which the Turks are trying to “ignite” European public opinion and the media. They want to create outrage and pressure to force Greece to suspend border controls. And if that happened, the Turks could trigger a wave of migrants and “reward” Europe with millions of third-world migrants.