Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière gréco-turque

/evros-mur-inutile

  • [12] Un jour, une archive - 12 juillet : À Kumkapı, avant de passer la frontière (1/4) – juin 2015

    https://visionscarto.net/a-kumkapi-avant-de-passer-la-frontiere

    Premier volet d’une série de quatre reportages sur les circulations migratoires entre la Turquie et la Grèce

    par Cristina Del Biaggio, photos Alberto Campi

    Kumkapi à Istanbul, foisonnant lieu de croisements où les anciens migrants reçoivent les nouveaux migrant...

    Istanbul, cette ville dite « charnière » entre l’Occident et l’Orient, est une cité de presque 15 millions d’habitants qui foisonne d’activités. Tellement étendue que même le Guide du Routard invite les « meilleurs marcheurs » à prendre les transports en commun…
    Mais nous, pendant une longue semaine au cours de l’été 2012, nous avons choisi « le lent piétinement », dans un seul quartier de la ville : Kumkapi, lieu de transit pour les migrants, 400 000 âmes, soit l’équivalent du canton de Genève. C’est ici qu’on trouve les nouveaux migrants, dont la majorité essaient de faire un peu de « cash » pour passer la frontière entre la Turquie et la Grèce. Ce quartier cosmopolite a été longtemps occupé par des Arméniens, des Géorgiens auxquels sont venus s’ajouter des Kurdes et des Russes. Ce sont ces anciens immigrés qui gèrent aujourd’hui les flux — de migrants comme de marchandises — transitant par ce lieu très dynamique.

    À lire aussi, les trois autres volets de cette série

    (2/4) Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière greco-turque
    https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    (3/4) Dans le train pour Athènes : ségrégation mode d’emploi
    https://visionscarto.net/dans-le-train-pour-athenes

    (4/4) À Athènes, (sur)vivre dans la terreur
    https://visionscarto.net/a-athenes-survivre

  • La frontière de l’Evros, un no man’s land grec ultra-militarisé où « personne n’a accès aux migrants »

    Échaudée par l’afflux de milliers de migrants venus de Turquie via la rivière Evros à l’extrême est du pays en mars 2020, la Grèce a hautement militarisé la zone. Des exilés continuent toutefois de traverser cette frontière greco-turque sous contrôle exclusif de l’armée. Ils ne reçoivent l’aide d’aucune ONG, d’aucun habitant, interdits dans la zone.

    C’est une rivière inapprochable à l’extrême pointe de l’Union européenne. Les 500 kilomètres de cours d’eau de l’Evros, frontière naturelle qui sépare la Grèce de la Turquie sur le continent, sont, depuis des années, sous contrôle exclusif de l’armée grecque.

    En longeant la frontière, la zone est déserte et fortement boisée. Des ronces, des buissons touffus, des arbres empêchent le tout-venant de s’approcher du secteur militarisé et du cours d’eau. « Il y a des caméras partout. Faites attention, ne vous avancez pas trop », prévient Tzamalidis Stavros, le chef du village de Kastanies, dans le nord du pays, en marchant le long d’une voie ferrée - en activité - pour nous montrer la frontière. Au loin, à environ deux kilomètres de là, des barbelés se dessinent. Malgré la distance, Tzamilidis Stavros reste vigilant. « Ils ont un équipement ultra-moderne. Ils vont nous repérer très vite ».

    Cette zone interdite d’accès n’est pourtant pas désertée par les migrants. Depuis de nombreuses années, les populations sur la route de l’exil traversent l’Evros depuis les rives turques pour entrer en Union européenne. Mais la crise migratoire de mars 2020, pendant laquelle des dizaines de milliers de migrants sont arrivés en Grèce via Kastanies après l’ouverture des frontières turques, a tout aggravé.

    En un an, la Grèce - et l’UE - ont investi des millions d’euros pour construire une forteresse frontalière : des murs de barbelés ont vu le jour le long de la rivière, des canons sonores ont été mis en place, des équipements militaires ultra-performants (drones, caméras…). Tout pour empêcher un nouvel afflux de migrants par l’Evros.

    « Nous avons aujourd’hui 850 militaires le long de l’Evros », déclare un garde-frontière de la région, en poste dans le village de Tychero. « Frontex est présent avec nous. Les barbelés posés récemment
    nous aident énormément ».

    « Black-out »

    Ces installations ont contribué à faire baisser le nombre de passages. « A Kastanies, avant, il y avait au moins cinq personnes par jour qui traversaient la frontière. Aujourd’hui, c’est fini. Presque plus personne ne passe », affirme le chef du village qui se dit « soulagé ». « La clôture a tout arrêté ». Mais à d’autres endroits, « là où il y a moins de patrouilles, moins de surveillance, moins de barbelés », des migrants continuent de passer, selon l’association Border violence, qui surveille les mouvements aux frontières européennes.

    Combien sont-ils ? La réponse semble impossible à obtenir. Les médias sont tenus à l’écart, le ministère des Affaires étrangères grec évoquant des raisons de « sécurité nationale ». Les autorités grecques ne communiquent pas, les garde-frontières déployés dans la région restent flous et renvoient la balle à leurs supérieurs hiérarchiques, et les associations sont absentes de la zone.

    C’est ce « black-out » de la zone qui inquiète les ONG. « Des migrants arrivent à venir jusqu’à Thessalonique et ils nous racontent leur traversée. Mais il faut 25 jours à pied depuis l’Evros jusqu’ici. Nous avons donc les infos avec trois semaines de retard », explique une militante de Border Violence, à Thessalonique.

    Les migrants arrêtés par les garde-frontières grecs dans la zone ne peuvent pas non plus témoigner des conditions de leur interpellation. Ils sont directement transférés dans le hotspot de Fylakio, le seul camp de la région situé à quelques km de la Turquie. Entouré de barbelés, Fylakio fait partie des sept centres fermés du pays où les migrants ne peuvent pas sortir. Et où les médias ne peuvent pas entrer.

    « J’ai traversé l’Evros il y a un mois et demi et je suis bloqué ici depuis », nous crie un jeune Syrien de 14 ans depuis le camp. « On a passé 9 jours dans la région d’Evros et nous avons été arrêtés avec un groupe de mon village, nous venons de Deir-Ezzor ». Nous n’en saurons pas plus, un militaire s’approche.
    Des milliers de pushbacks, selon les associations

    La principale préoccupation des associations comme Border violence – mais aussi du Haut commissariat de l’ONU aux réfugiés (HCR) – restent de savoir si les droits fondamentaux des demandeurs d’asile sont respectés à la frontière de l’Evros. « Là-bas, personne n’a accès aux migrants. La politique frontalière est devenue complètement dingue ! Nous, les militants, nous n’allons même pas dans la région ! On a peur d’être arrêté et mis en prison ».

    La semaine dernière, le ministre des Migrations, Notis Mtarakis a officiellement rejeté l’instauration d’un « mécanisme de surveillance » à ses frontières, réclamé par l’ONU et la Commission européenne, déclarant que cela « portait atteinte à la souveraineté du pays ».

    Margaritis Petritzikis, à la tête du HCR dans le hotspot de Fylakio, reconnaît que ce qu’il se passe dans l’Evros est opaque. « La frontière doit être mieux surveillée », explique-t-il, en faisant référence à demi mot aux pushbacks, ces renvois illégaux entre deux Etats voisins.

    Si les autorités grecques nient les pratiquer, ces pushbacks seraient nombreux et réguliers dans cette partie du pays. « Evidemment, qu’il y a des renvois vers la Turquie », assure un ancien policier à la retraite sous couvert d’anonymat qui nous reçoit dans sa maison à moins de 5 km de la Turquie. « J’ai moi-même conduit pendant des années des bateaux pour ramener des migrants vers la Turquie à la tombée de la nuit ».

    Selon Border violence, environ 4 000 personnes ont été refoulées illégalement depuis le début de l’année. « Il y en a certainement beaucoup plus, mais de nombreuses personnes ne parlent pas. Elles ont peur ».
    38 morts dans l’Evros depuis le début de l’année

    Au-delà des refoulements illégaux, la question des violences inquiète les associations. Selon le New York Times, des centres de détention secrets, appelés « black sites », seraient présents dans la région. Sans observateurs extérieurs, la zone suscite énormément de fantasmes. « Des migrants nous ont parlé de tortures dans ces centres cachés en Grèce, de chocs électriques, de simulacres de noyades. Nous ne pouvons pas vérifier », continue la militante de Border violence.

    Et comment recenser les victimes, celles et ceux qui se sont noyés en tentant la traversée ? Sans accès à la zone, « nous ne pouvons même pas parler de morts mais de personnes disparues », déplore-t-elle. « Nous considérons qu’au bout d’un mois sans nouvelles d’un migrant dans la zone, celui-ci est présumé décédé ».

    Selon Pavlos Pavlidis, un des médecins-légistes de l’hôpital d’Alexandropoulis, le chef-lieu de la région, déjà 38 personnes sont mortes cette année.

    « Beaucoup se sont noyés dans l’Evros, d’autres sont morts d’hypothermie. Surtout l’hiver. Ils traversent la rivière, ils sont trempés. Personne n’est là pour les aider, alors ils meurent de froid. Leurs corps sont parfois trouvés 20 jours plus tard par la police et amenés à l’hôpital », explique-t-il.

    Y a-t-il des victimes non recensées ? « Peut-être », répond-t-il. Mais sans maraudes, impossible de surveiller la zone et de venir en aide à des blessés potentiels. « C’est triste de mourir ainsi », conclut-il, « loin des siens et loin de tout ».

    https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/35496/la-frontiere-de-levros-un-no-mans-land-grec-ultramilitarise-ou-personn
    #Evros #région_de_l'Evros #migrations #asile #réfugiés #frontières #militarisation_des_frontières
    #décès #morts #mourir_aux_frontières #morts_aux_frontières #statistiques #chiffres #2021
    #push-backs #refoulements #Pavlos_Pavlidis #Turquie #Grèce
    #murs #barbelés #barrières_frontalières #Kastanies #clôture #surveillance #fermeture_des_frontières #Fylakio #black_sites #torture

    C’est comme un déjà-vu pour moi... une répétition de ce qui se passait en 2012, quand j’étais sur place avec Alberto...
    Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière greco-turque (2/4)
    https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    • Un médecin légiste grec veut redonner une identité aux migrants morts dans l’Evros

      Médecin légiste depuis les années 2000, Pavlos Pavlidis autopsie tous les corps de migrants trouvés dans la région de l’Evros, frontalière avec la Turquie. A l’hôpital d’Alexandropoulis où il travaille, il tente de collecter un maximum d’informations sur chacun d’eux - et garde dans des classeurs tous leurs effets personnels - pour leur redonner un nom et une dignité.

      Pavlos Pavlidis fume cigarette sur cigarette. Dans son bureau de l’hôpital d’Alexandropoulis, les cendriers sont pleins et l’odeur de tabac envahit toute la pièce. Le médecin légiste d’une cinquantaine d’années, lunettes sur le nez, n’a visiblement pas l’intention d’ouvrir les fenêtres. « On fume beaucoup ici », se contente-t-il de dire. Pavlos Pavlidis parle peu mais répond de manière méthodique.

      « Je travaille ici depuis l’an 2000. C’est cette année-là que j’ai commencé à recevoir les premiers corps de migrants non-identifiés », explique-t-il, le nez rivé sur son ordinateur. Alexandropoulis est le chef-lieu de la région de l’Evros, à quelques kilomètres seulement de la frontière turque. C’est là-bas, en tentant d’entrer en Union européenne via la rivière du même nom, que les migrants prennent le plus de risques.

      « Depuis le début de l’année, 38 corps sont arrivés à l’hôpital dans mon service, 34 étaient des hommes et 4 étaient des femmes », continue le légiste. « Beaucoup de ces personnes traversent l’Evros en hiver. L’eau monte, les courants sont forts, il y a énormément de branchages. Ils se noient », résume-t-il sobrement. « L’année dernière, ce sont 36 corps qui ont été amenés ici. Les chiffres de 2021 peuvent donc encore augmenter. L’hiver n’a même pas commencé. »

      Des corps retrouvés 20 jours après leur mort

      Au fond de la pièce, sur un grand écran, des corps de migrants défilent. Ils sont en état de décomposition avancé. Les regards se détournent rapidement. Pavlos Pavlidis s’excuse. Les corps abîmés sont son quotidien.

      « Je prends tout en photo. C’est mon métier. En ce qui concerne les migrants, les cadavres sont particulièrement détériorés parce qu’ils sont parfois retrouvés 20 jours après leur mort », explique-t-il. Densément boisée, la région de l’Evros, sous contrôle de l’armée, est désertée par les habitants. Sans civils dans les parages, « on ne retrouve pas tout de suite les victimes ». Et puis, il y a les noyés. « L’eau abîme tout. Elle déforme les visages très vite ».

      Tous les corps non-identifiés retrouvés à la frontière ou dans la région sont amenés dans le service de Pavlos Pavlidis. « Le protocole est toujours le même : la police m’appelle quand elle trouve un corps et envoie le cadavre à l’hôpital. Nous ne travaillons pas seuls, nous collaborons avec les autorités. Nous échangeons des données pour l’enquête : premières constatations, présence de documents sur le cadavre, heure de la découverte… »

      Les causes de décès de la plupart des corps qui finissent sous son scalpel sont souvent les mêmes : la noyade, donc, mais aussi l’hypothermie et les accidents de la route. « Ceux qui arrivent à faire la traversée de l’Evros en ressortent trempés. Ils se perdent ensuite dans les montagnes alentours. Ils se cachent des forces de l’ordre. Ils meurent de froid ».
      Cicatrices, tatouages…

      Sur sa table d’autopsie, Pavlos sait que le visage qu’il regarde n’a plus rien à voir avec la personne de son vivant. « Alors je photographie des éléments spécifiques, des cicatrices, des tatouages... » Le légiste répertorie tout ; les montres, les colliers, les portables, les bagues... « Je n’ai rien, je ne sais pas qui ils sont, d’où ils viennent. Ces indices ne leur rendent pas un nom mais les rendent unique. »

      Mettant peu d’affect dans son travail – « Je fais ce que j’ai à faire., c’est mon métier » – Pavlos Pavlidis cache sous sa froideur une impressionnante humanité. Loin de simplement autopsier des corps, le médecin s’acharne à vouloir leur rendre une identité.

      Il garde les cadavres plus longtemps que nécessaire : entre 6 mois et un an. « Cela donne du temps aux familles pour se manifester », explique-t-il. « Ils doivent chercher le disparu, trouver des indices et arriver jusqu’à Alexandropoulis. Je leur donne ce temps-là ». En ce moment, 25 corps patientent dans un conteneur réfrigéré de l’hôpital.

      Chaque semaine, il reçoit des mails de familles désespérées. Il prend le temps de répondre à chacun d’eux. « Docteur, je cherche mon frère qui s’est sûrement noyé dans l’Evros, le 22 aout 2021. Vous m’avez dit le 7 septembre qu’un seul corps avait été retrouvé. Y en a-t-il d’autres depuis ? », peut-on lire sur le mail de l’un d’eux, envoyé le 3 octobre. « Je vous remercie infiniment et vous supplie de m’aider à retrouver mon frère pour que nous puissions l’enterrer dignement ».

      « Je n’ai pas de données sur les corps retrouvés côté turc »

      Dans le meilleur des scénario, Pavlos Pavlidis obtient un nom. « Je peux rendre le corps à une famille ». Mais ce cas de figure reste rare.

      Qu’importe, à chaque corps, la même procédure s’enclenche : il stocke de l’ADN, classe chaque objet dans des enveloppes rangées dans des dossiers, selon un protocole précis. Il note chaque élément retrouvé dans un registre, recense tous les morts et actualise ses chiffres.

      Le médecin regrette le manque de coopération avec les autorités turques. « Je n’ai pas de chiffres précis puisque je n’ai pas le décompte des cadavres trouvés de l’autre côte de la frontière. Je n’ai que ceux trouvés du côté grec. Combien sont morts sur l’autre rive ? Je ne le saurai pas », déplore-t-il. Ces 20 dernières années, le médecin légiste dit avoir autopsié 500 personnes.

      Les corps non-identifiés et non réclamés sont envoyés dans un cimetière de migrants anonymes, dans un petit village à 50 km de là. Perdu dans les collines, il compte environ 200 tombes, toutes marquées d’une pierre blanche.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/35534/un-medecin-legiste-grec-veut-redonner-une-identite-aux-migrants-morts-

      –—

      Portrait de @albertocampiphoto de Pavlos Pavlidis accompagné de mon texte pour @vivre (c’était 2012) :

      Pavlos Pavlidis | Médecin et gardien des morts

      Pavlos Pavlidis nous accueille dans son bureau, au sous-sol de l’hôpital d’Alexandroupoli. Sa jeune assistante, Valeria, est également présente pour l’aider dans la traduction anglaise. Pavlidis est calme. Sa voix est rauque, modelée par la fumée de cigarettes.

      Il s’occupe de trouver la cause de la mort des personnes vivant dans la région de l’Evros, mais également de donner une identité aux cadavres de migrants récupérés dans le fleuve. Une cinquantaine par année, il nous avoue. Déjà 24 depuis le début de l’année, dont un dixième ont un nom et un prénom.

      Après seulement 2 minutes d’entretien, Pavlidis nous demande si on veut regarder les photos des cadavres. Il dit que c’est important que nous les voyions, pour que nous nous rendions compte de l’état dans lequel le corps se trouve. Il allume son vieil ordinateur et nous montre les photos. Il les fait défiler. Les cadavres se succèdent et nous comprenons vite les raisons de faire systématiquement une analyse ADN.

      Pavlidis, en nous montrant les images, nous informe sur la cause de la mort : « Cette dame s’est noyée », dit-il. « Cette dame est morte d’hypothermie ». Ceux qui meurent d’hypothermie sont plus facilement identifiables : « Cet homme était d’Erythrée et on a retrouvé son nom grâce à ses habits et à son visage ». Le visage était reconnaissable, le froid l’ayant conservé presque intact.

      « Celle-ci, c’est une femme noire ». Elle s’est noyée après l’hiver. Pavlidis ne peut en dire de plus. Nous voyons sur la photo qu’elle porte un bracelet. Nous lui posons des questions, sur ce bracelet. Alors il ouvre un tiroir. Il y a des enveloppes, sur les enveloppes la date écrite à la main de la découverte du corps et des détails qui pourraient être important pour donner à ce corps une identité. Dans les enveloppes, il y les objets personnels. Il n’y a que ces objets qui restent intacts. Le corps, lui, subit le passage du temps.

      Pavlidis nous montre ensuite un grigri. C’est un homme qui le portait. Il restera dans l’enveloppe encore longtemps ; jusqu’à ce qu’un cousin, une mère, un ami vienne frapper à la porte de Pavlidis pour dire que c’est peut-être le grigri de son cousin, de son fils, de son ami. Et alors l’ADN servira à effacer les doutes.

      Les cadavres, quand personne ne les réclame, restent dans les réfrigérateurs de l’hôpital pendant 3 mois. Puis, ils sont amenés dans le cimetière musulman du village de Sidiro, où un mufti s’occupe de les enterrer. Ils sont tous là, les corps sans nom, sur une colline proche du village. Ils sont 400, pour l’instant. 450, l’année prochaine. Le mufti prie pour eux, qu’ils soient chrétiens ou musulmans. La distinction est difficile à faire et le fait de les enterrer tous au même endroit permet à Pavlidis de savoir où ils sont. Et là, au moins, il y a quelqu’un qui s’occupe d’eux. Si un jour, la famille vient frapper à la porte du médecin, il saura où est le corps et, ensemble, ils pourront au moins lui donner un nom. Et le restituer à sa famille.

      https://asile.ch/2012/11/09/gardien-des-morts-dans-le-sous-sol-de-lhopital-dalexandropouli

      #identification #Pavlos_Pavlidis

    • http://Evros-news.gr reports that according to info from villagers at the 🇬🇷🇧🇬 border in the Rhodopi & Xanthi prefecture, army special forces (commandos) have been deployed specifically for migration control. They’ve reported in the past the same happens in Evros.

      https://twitter.com/lk2015r/status/1460326699661414408

      –-

      ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΗ: Ειδικές δυνάμεις, μετά τον Έβρο, επιτηρούν τα ελληνοβουλγαρικά σύνορα για λαθρομετανάστες σε Ροδόπη, Ξάνθη

      Ειδικές Δυνάμεις (Καταδρομείς) μετά τον Έβρο, ανέλαβαν δράση στα ελληνοβουλγαρικά σύνορα για έλεγχο και αποτροπή της εισόδου λαθρομεταναστών και στους νομούς Ροδόπης και Ξάνθης, εδώ και λίγες ημέρες.

      Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες που έφτασαν στο Evros-news.gr από κατοίκους των ορεινών περιοχών των δύο γειτονικών στον Έβρο νομών, οι οποίοι έχουν διαπιστώσει ότι υπάρχει παρουσία στρατιωτικών τμημάτων που ανήκουν στις Ειδικές Δυνάμεις και περιπολούν μέρα-νύχτα στην ελληνοβουλγαρική συνοριογραμμή, από τον έλεγχο που έχουν υποστεί κάθε ώρα της ημέρας αλλά και νύχτας. Είναι άλλωστε γνωστό, πως από εκεί, όπως και την αντίστοιχη του Έβρου, μπαίνει σημαντικός αριθμός λαθρομεταναστών, που με την βοήθεια Βούλγαρων διακινητών μπαίνουν στο έδαφος της γειτονικής χώρας από την Τουρκία και στη συνέχεια… βγαίνουν στην Ροδόπη ή την Ξάνθη, για να συνεχίσουν από εκεί προς Θεσσαλονίκη, Αθήνα.

      Όπως είχαμε ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΕΙ τον περασμένο Αύγουστο, άνδρες των Ειδικών Δυνάμεων και συγκεκριμένα Καταδρομείς, ανέλαβαν τον έλεγχο της λαθρομετανάστευσης στα ελλην0οβουλγαρκά σύνορα του Έβρου, προκειμένου να “σφραγιστεί” από το Ορμένιο ως τον ορεινό όγκο του Σουφλίου στα όρια με το νομό Ροδόπης. Εγκαταστάθηκαν στο Επιτηρητικό Φυλάκιο 30 του Ορμενίου στο Τρίγωνο Ορεστιάδας και στο Σουφλί. Τόσο εκείνη η απόφαση όσο και η πρόσφατη για επέκταση της παρουσίας Ειδικών Δυνάμεων, πάρθηκε από τον Αρχηγό ΓΕΕΘΑ Αντιστράτηγο Κωνσταντίνο Φλώρο και ανέλαβε την υλοποίηση της το Δ’ Σώμα Στρατού.

      Στόχος είναι ο περιορισμός της εισόδου λαθρομεταναστών και μέσω Βουλγαρίας από τους τρεις νομούς της Θράκης, αφού εκεί δεν μπορεί να δημιουργηθεί φράχτης, όπως έχει γίνει στα δυο σημεία της ελληνοτουρκικής συνοριογραμμής, στις Καστανιές και τις Φέρες, αφού η Βουλγαρία είναι χώρα της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και κάτι τέτοιο δεν επιτρέπεται. Επειδή όμως είναι γνωστό πως υπήρχαν παράπονα και αναφορές όχι μόνο κατοίκων αλλά και θεσμικών εκπροσώπων της Ροδόπης και της Ξάνθης για πρόβλημα στις ορεινές τους περιοχές όπου υπάρχουν τα σύνορα με την Βουλγαρία, πάρθηκε η συγκεκριμένη απόφαση προκειμένου να “σφραγιστούν” όσο είναι δυνατόν, οι περιοχές αυτές με την παρουσία των Ειδικών Δυνάμεων. Κι επειδή είναι γνωστό ότι υπήρχαν και παλαιότερα τμήματα τους στους δυο νομούς, να επισημάνουμε ότι οι Καταδρομείς που τοποθετήθηκαν πρόσφατα, προστέθηκαν στις υπάρχουσες δυνάμεις και έχουν μοναδικό αντικείμενο την επιτήρηση της ελληνοβουλγαρικής μεθορίου.

      https://t.co/jzXylBaGUW?amp=1

    • 114 of the 280 vehicles recently acquired by the police will be used for border control in Evros, including:
      80 police cars
      30 pick-up trucks
      4 SUVs
      (this is probably why they need a new police building in Alexandroupoli, parking is an issue)

      https://twitter.com/lk2015r/status/1464287124824506370

      Έρχονται στον Έβρο 114 νέα αστυνομικά οχήματα για την φύλαξη των συνόρων


      https://t.co/qajuhOwPWW?amp=1

  • Militarisation of the Evros border is not a new thing, it’s between Greece and Turkey after all. 12 km of land border used to have a minefield. This is at a cemetery in Alexandroupolis. It’s not a vacant plot but a grave for dozens of unidentified migrant mine victims from 1990s.


    https://twitter.com/vvlaakkonen/status/1436561164423634946

    #Evros #Grèce #mourir_aux_frontières #morts_aux_frontières #asile #migrations #histoire #réfugiés #frontières #mines_antipersonnel #cimetière #Alexandroupolis #fosse_commune #militarisation_des_frontières
    #Ville_Laakkonen

    –—

    En 2012, quand @albertocampiphoto et moi étions dans la région, nous avons visité le cimetière de #Sidirò où les victimes du passage frontaliers (à partir des années 2010, soit une fois le terrain déminé) ont été enterrées :


    https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile
    et
    https://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/2675

  • Greece to extend border fence over migration surge

    Greece will extend its fence on the border with Turkey, a government source said Sunday (8 March), amid continuing efforts by migrants to break through in a surge enabled by Ankara.

    “We have decided to immediately extend the fence in three different areas,” the government source told AFP, adding that the new sections, to the south of the area now under pressure, would cover around 36 kilometres (22 miles).

    The current stretch of fence will also be upgraded, the official added.

    Tens of thousands of asylum-seekers have been trying to break through the land border from Turkey for a week after Ankara announced it would no longer prevent people from trying to cross into the European Union.

    A police source Sunday told AFP that riot police reinforcements from around the country had been sent to the border in recent days, in addition to drones and police dogs.

    There have been numerous exchanges of tear gas and stones between Greek riot police and migrants.

    Turkey has also bombarded Greek forces with tear gas at regular intervals, and Athens has accused Turkish police of handing out wire cutters to migrants to help them break through the border fence.

    The Greek government over the weekend also released footage which it said showed a Turkish armoured vehicle assisting efforts to bring down the fence.

    “Parts of the fence have been removed, both by the (Turkish) vehicle and with wire cutters, but they are constantly being repaired,” local police unionist Elias Akidis told Skai TV.

    Turkey has accused Greek border guards of using undue force against the migrants, injuring many and killing at least five.

    The government in Athens has consistently dismissed the claim as lies.

    https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/greece-to-extend-border-fence-over-migration-surge
    #murs #Evros #barrières_frontalières #Grèce #Turquie #frontières #extension
    ping @fil @reka @albertocampiphoto

    • je suis tombé sur une vidéo YT d’un compte néo-nazi montrant une attaque du mur de l’Evros par des migrants. L’attaque y est présentée comme soutenue par la police turque, ce qui est vraiment beaucoup solliciter les images… les migrants sont noyés sous les lacrymos.

    • Evros: Greece to extend the fence on the borders with Turkey to 40km

      Greece will extend the fence to its Evros borders with Turkey to 40 km, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Friday morning. The additional fence will be installed in “sensitive” areas preferred for illegal entries by migrants and refugees.

      The fence currently covers 12.5 km.

      Speaking to ANT1 TV, Petsas noted that at the moment the most vulnerable border point is in the south.

      The current 12.5 km fence of land access points is installed north and south of Kastanies customs office, where thousands of migrants and refugees have amassed.

      According to the daily Kathimerini, the 40 kilometers new fence is planned to be partially installed either in areas where the Evros waters are low or in areas where the landscape favors illegla paasage.

      Sections such as Ormenio, Gardens, Feres, Tychero, Soufli, Dikaia, Dilofo, Marassia, Nea Vyssa and elsewhere have been designated as the areas where the new fence will installed by the Greek Army and support by the police.

      According to a report by daily Elftheros Typos, Greece’s Plan B aside from the fence extension is the presence of about 4,000 police officers and soldiers in parallel patrols, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, message broadcasting, cameras for audio-video.

      A Greek Army – Greek Police “joint operations center” is to be established in Nea Vryssa.

      According to the daily more than 1,000 soldiers, two commandos squads, 1,500 police and national guards are currently operating in the Evros area.

      Petsas underlined that the Greek government has changed its policy because there is a national security issue at the moment.

      He reiterated the new policy saying that “no one will cross the border.”

      https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/03/06/evros-greece-fence-borders-turkey-extension

    • Video 2 - Violences contre les exilé·es à la frontière gréco-turque

      Depuis le début du mois de mars 2020, des milliers d’exilé·es, incité·es voire poussé·es par les autorités turques, se sont précipité·es aux frontières terrestres et maritimes entre la Turquie et la Grèce. Ils et elles se sont heurté·es à la violence de la police et de l’armée grecque, ainsi que de groupe fascistes, mobilisés pour leur en interdire le franchissement, la suite : www.gisti.org/spip.php ?article6368

      https://indymotion.fr/videos/watch/e8938a1c-5456-46e8-a0cb-be0806c96051?start=1s

    • Greece shields Evros border with blades wire, 400 new border guards

      Greece is strengthening ifs defense and is preparing for a possible new wave of migrants at its Evros border. A fence of sharp blades wire (concertina wire) and 400 additional border guards are to shield the country for the case Turkey will open its borders again so that migrants can cross into Europe.

      According to daily ethnos (https://www.ethnos.gr/ellada/105936_ohyronetai-o-ebros-frahtis-me-lepidoforo-syrmatoplegma-kai-400-neoi-sy), Ankara has already been holding groups of migrants in warehouses near the border, while the Greek side is methodically being prepared for the possibility of a new attempt for waves of migrants to try to cross again the border.

      “At the bridgeheads of Peplos and Fera, at the land borders after the riverbed is aligned, and in other vulnerable areas along the border, kilometer-long of metal fence with sharp blades wire are being installed, the soil is being cleaned from wild vegetation and clearing of marsh lands.

      The fence in the northern part is being strengthened and expanded, and 11 additional border pylons, each one 50 meters high, will be installed along the river in the near future. Each pylon will be equipped with cameras and modern day and night surveillance systems, with a range of several kilometers and multiple telecommunications capabilities, the daily notes.

      Within the next few months, 400 newly recruited border guards will be on duty and will almost double the deterrent force and enhance the joint patrols of the Army and Police, ethnos adds.

      Big armored military vehicles destined for Libya and confiscated five years ago south of Crete have been made available to the Army in the area, the daily notes.

      One and a half month after the end of the “war without arms” at the Evros border from end of February till the end of March, sporadic movement on the Turkish side of the border has been observed.

      At least four shooting incidents have been reported in the past two weeks, with Turkish jandarmerie to have fired at Greek border guards and members of the Frontex.

      Greece’s security forces are on high alert.

      Just a few days ago, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated that Ankara’s policy of “open borders” will continue for anyone wishing to cross into Europe.

      Speaking to nationalist Akit TV on Wednesday, Cavusoglu claimed that Greece used “inhumane” behavior towards the migrants who want to cross into the country.

      Also Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had threatened that the migrants will be allowed to leave Turkey again once the pandemic was over.

      PS It could be a very hot summer, should Turkey attempt to send migrants to Europe by land through Evros and by sea with boats to the Aegean islands and at the same time, deploys a drilling ship off Crete in July, as it claimed a few days ago.

      https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/05/17/greece-shields-evros-border-blades-wire-400-border-guards

      #militarisation_des_frontières

    • Pour la bagatelle de 63 millions d’euro...

      Greece to extend fence on land border with Turkey to deter migrants

      Greece will proceed with plans to extend a cement and barbed-wire fence that it set up in 2012 along its northern border with Turkey to prevent migrants from entering the country, the government said on Monday.

      The conservative government made the decision this year, spokesman Stelios Petsas said, after tens of thousands of asylum seekers tried to enter EU member Greece in late February when Ankara said it would no longer prevent them from doing so.

      Greece, which is at odds with neighbouring Turkey over a range of issues, has been a gateway to Europe for people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, with more than a million passing through the country in 2015-2016.

      The project led by four Greek construction companies will be completed within eight months at an estimated cost of 63 million euros, Petsas told a news briefing.

      The 12.5-kilometre fence was built eight years ago to stop migrants from crossing into Greece. It will be extended in areas indicated by Greek police and the army, Petsas said without elaborating. In March, he said it would be extended to 40 kilometres.

      Tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, who disagree over where their continental shelves begin and end, have recently escalated further over hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean region.

      https://kdal610.com/2020/08/24/greece-to-extend-fence-on-land-border-with-turkey-to-deter-migrants

    • Greece to extend fence on land border with Turkey to deter migrants

      Greece will proceed with plans to extend a cement and barbed-wire fence that it set up in 2012 along its northern border with Turkey to prevent migrants from entering the country, the government said on Monday.

      The conservative government made the decision this year, spokesman Stelios Petsas said, after tens of thousands of asylum seekers tried to enter EU member Greece in late February when Ankara said it would no longer prevent them from doing so.

      Greece, which is at odds with neighbouring Turkey over a range of issues, has been a gateway to Europe for people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, with more than a million passing through the country in 2015-2016.

      The project led by four Greek construction companies will be completed within eight months at an estimated cost of 63 million euros, Petsas told a news briefing.

      The 12.5-kilometre fence was built eight years ago to stop migrants from crossing into Greece. It will be extended in areas indicated by Greek police and the army, Petsas said without elaborating. In March, he said it would be extended to 40 kilometres.

      Tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, who disagree over where their continental shelves begin and end, have recently escalated further over hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean region.

      https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-greece-turkey-fence/greece-to-extend-fence-on-land-border-with-turkey-to-deter-migrants-idUK

    • Evros land border fence to be ready in eight months

      The construction of a new fence on northeastern Greece’s Evros land border with Turkey will be completed in eight months, according to Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, speaking in Parliament on Monday.

      The border fence project has a total budget of 62.9 million euros and has been undertaken by a consortium put together by four construction companies.

      It will have a total length of 27 kilometers and eight elevated observatories will be constructed to be used by the Hellenic Army.

      Moreover, the existing fence will be reinforced with a steel railing measuring 4.3 meters in height, instead of the current 3.5 meters.

      Damage to the existing fence during attempts by thousands of migrants to cross into Greece territory from Turkey, as well as bad weather, will be repaired – including a 400-meter stretch that collapsed as a result of flooding.

      https://www.ekathimerini.com/256184/article/ekathimerini/news/evros-land-border-fence-to-be-ready-in-eight-months

    • New Evros fence to be completed by April next year, PM says during on-site inspection

      Construction of a new fence designed to stop undocumented migrants from slipping into Greece along its northeastern border with Turkey, demarcated by the Evros River, is expected to be completed by April next year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit at the area of Ferres on Saturday.

      “Building the Evros fence was the least we could do to secure the border and make the people of Evros feel more safe,” Mitsotakis said.

      The 62.9-million-euro steel fence with barbed wire will be five meters high and have a total length of 27 kilometers. Eight elevated observatories will be constructed to be used by the Hellenic Army. The project, which is designed to also serve as anti-flood protection, has been undertaken by a consortium put together by four construction companies.

      During a meeting with local officials, Mitsotakis also confirmed the hiring of 400 guards to patrol the border.

      https://www.ekathimerini.com/258187/article/ekathimerini/news/new-evros-fence-to-be-completed-by-april-next-year-pm-says-during-on-s

    • To Vima: Evros wall will be ready in April, the Min. of Public
      Order said that ’labourers worked in the snow to finish the fence’.
      It also claims drones fly daily over the border - can anyone confirm? Only found older news saying they were to be deployed.

      https://twitter.com/lk2015r/status/1363625427307278340

      –—

      Εβρος : Ο φράκτης, τα drones και ο χιονιάς

      O καινούργιος φράκτης στα σύνορα με μήκος 27 χιλιόμετρα και με 13 χιλιόμετρα ο παλαιός, θα είναι απόλυτα έτοιμος τον Απρίλιο.

      Ούτε το χιόνι, ούτε οι λευκές νύχτες του Φεβρουαρίου, ούτε οι θερμοκρασίες κάτω από το μηδέν εμπόδισαν τα συνεργεία στις εργασίες τους για την κατασκευή του φράκτη στον Έβρο. Όπως μου είπε ο Μιχάλης Χρυσοχοΐδης « μηχανήματα και εργάτες δούλεψαν μέσα στα χιόνια για να ολοκληρώσουν τον φράκτη ». Μου αποκάλυψε μάλιστα ότι ο καινούργιος φράκτης στα σύνορα με μήκος 27 χιλιόμετρα και με 13 χιλιόμετρα ο παλαιός, θα είναι απόλυτα έτοιμος τον Απρίλιο. Και τούτο παρά το γεγονός ότι αυτές τις ημέρες το μόνον που δυσκολεύει τις εργασίες είναι τα πολλά νερά του ποταμού ο οποίος έχει υπερχειλίσει. Ωστόσο τα drones πετούν καθημερινά και συλλέγουν πληροφορίες, οι περιπολίες είναι συνεχείς και τα ηχοβολιστικά μηχανήματα έτοιμα, εάν χρειαστεί να δράσουν.

      https://www.tovima.gr/2021/02/19/opinions/evros-o-fraktis-ta-drones-kai-o-xionias

    • In post-pandemic Europe, migrants will face digital fortress

      As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away!

      Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. Mounted on the vehicle, the long-range acoustic device, or “sound cannon,” is the size of a small TV set but can match the volume of a jet engine.

      It’s part of a vast array of physical and experimental new digital barriers being installed and tested during the quiet months of the coronavirus pandemic at the 200-kilometer (125-mile) Greek border with Turkey to stop people entering the European Union illegally.

      A new steel wall, similar to recent construction on the US-Mexico border, blocks commonly-used crossing points along the Evros River that separates the two countries.

      Nearby observation towers are being fitted with long-range cameras, night vision, and multiple sensors. The data will be sent to control centers to flag suspicious movement using artificial intelligence analysis.

      “We will have a clear ‘pre-border’ picture of what’s happening,” Police Maj. Dimonsthenis Kamargios, head of the region’s border guard authority, told the Associated Press.

      The EU has poured 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) into security tech research following the refugee crisis in 2015-16, when more than 1 million people – many escaping wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan – fled to Greece and on to other EU countries.

      The automated surveillance network being built on the Greek-Turkish border is aimed at detecting migrants early and deterring them from crossing, with river and land patrols using searchlights and long-range acoustic devices.

      Key elements of the network will be launched by the end of the year, Kamargios said. “Our task is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. We need modern equipment and tools to do that.”

      Researchers at universities around Europe, working with private firms, have developed futuristic surveillance and verification technology, and tested more than a dozen projects at Greek borders.

      AI-powered lie detectors and virtual border-guard interview bots have been piloted, as well as efforts to integrate satellite data with footage from drones on land, air, sea and underwater. Palm scanners record the unique vein pattern in a person’s hand to use as a biometric identifier, and the makers of live camera reconstruction technology promise to erase foliage virtually, exposing people hiding near border areas.

      Testing has also been conducted in Hungary, Latvia and elsewhere along the eastern EU perimeter.

      The more aggressive migration strategy has been advanced by European policymakers over the past five years, funding deals with Mediterranean countries outside the bloc to hold migrants back and transforming the EU border protection agency, Frontex, from a coordination mechanism to a full-fledged multinational security force.

      But regional migration deals have left the EU exposed to political pressure from neighbors.

      Earlier this month, several thousand migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a single day, prompting Spain to deploy the army. A similar crisis unfolded on the Greek-Turkish border and lasted three weeks last year.

      Greece is pressing the EU to let Frontex patrol outside its territorial waters to stop migrants reaching Lesbos and other Greek islands, the most common route in Europe for illegal crossing in recent years.

      Armed with new tech tools, European law enforcement authorities are leaning further outside borders.

      Not all the surveillance programs being tested will be included in the new detection system, but human rights groups say the emerging technology will make it even harder for refugees fleeing wars and extreme hardship to find safety.

      Patrick Breyer, a European lawmaker from Germany, has taken an EU research authority to court, demanding that details of the AI-powered lie detection program be made public.

      “What we are seeing at the borders, and in treating foreign nationals generally, is that it’s often a testing field for technologies that are later used on Europeans as well. And that’s why everybody should care, in their own self-interest,” Breyer of the German Pirates Party told the AP.

      He urged authorities to allow broad oversight of border surveillance methods to review ethical concerns and prevent the sale of the technology through private partners to authoritarian regimes outside the EU.

      Ella Jakubowska, of the digital rights group EDRi, argued that EU officials were adopting “techno-solutionism” to sideline moral considerations in dealing with the complex issue of migration.

      “It is deeply troubling that, time and again, EU funds are poured into expensive technologies which are used in ways that criminalize, experiment with and dehumanize people on the move,” she said.

      Migration flows have slowed in many parts of Europe during the pandemic, interrupting an increase recorded over years. In Greece, for example, the number of arrivals dropped from nearly 75,000 in 2019 to 15,700 in 2020, a 78% decrease.

      But the pressure is sure to return. Between 2000 and 2020, the world’s migrant population rose by more than 80% to reach 272 million, according to United Nations data, fast outpacing international population growth.

      At the Greek border village of Poros, the breakfast discussion at a cafe was about the recent crisis on the Spanish-Moroccan border.

      Many of the houses in the area are abandoned and in a gradual state of collapse, and life is adjusting to that reality.

      Cows use the steel wall as a barrier for the wind and rest nearby.

      Panagiotis Kyrgiannis, a Poros resident, says the wall and other preventive measures have brought migrant crossings to a dead stop.

      “We are used to seeing them cross over and come through the village in groups of 80 or a 100,” he said. “We were not afraid. … They don’t want to settle here. All of this that’s happening around us is not about us.”

      https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1162084/in-post-pandemic-europe-migrants-will-face-digital-fortress

      #pandémie #covid-19 #coronavirus #barrière_digitale #mur_digital #pré-mur #technologie #complexe_militaro-industriel #AI #IA #intelligence_artificielle #détecteurs_de_mensonge #satellite #biométrie #Hongrie #Lettonie #Frontex #surveillance #privatisation #techno-solutionism #déshumanisation

    • Greece: EU Commission upgrades border surveillance – and criticises it at the same time

      The Greek border police are using a sound cannon and drones on a new border fence, and the EU Commission expresses its „concern“ about this. However, it is itself funding several similar research projects, including a semi-autonomous drone with stealth features for „effective surveillance of borders and migration flows“

      On Monday, the Associated Press (AP) news agency had reported (https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-europe-migration-technology-health-c23251bec65ba45205a0851fab07e) that police in Greece plan to deploy a long-range sound cannon at the external border with Turkey in the future. The device, mounted on a police tank, makes a deafening noise with the volume of a jet engine. It is part of a system of steel walls that is being installed and tested along with drones on the 200-kilometre border with Turkey for migration defence. The vehicle, made by the Canadian manufacturer #Streit, comes from a series of seized „#Typhoons“ (https://defencereview.gr/mrap-vehicles-hellenic-police) that were to be illegally exported to Libya via Dubai (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/streit-libya-un-1.3711776).

      After the AP report about the sound cannons went viral, Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz had clarified that it was not an EU project (https://twitter.com/Ad4EU/status/1400010786064437248).

      Yesterday, AP reported again on this (https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-europe-migration-government-and-politics-2cec83ae0d8544a719a885a). According to Jahnz, the Commission has „noted with concern“ the installation of the technology and is requesting information on its use. Methods used in EU member states would have to comply with European fundamental rights, including the „right to dignity“. The right to asylum and the principle of non-refoulement in states where refugees face persecution must also be respected.

      The Commission’s outrage is anything but credible. After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used refugees to storm the Turkish-Greek border in March 2020, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to the border river Evros before the start of a Frontex mission and declared her solidarity there. Literally, the former German Defence Minister said (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_20_380): „I thank Greece for being our European shield“.

      Commission funds research on border surveillance

      Also yesterday, the Commission-funded #ROBORDER project (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/740593/de) said in a statement (https://roborder.eu/2021/06/03/new-collaboration-with-borderuas-project) that it is now cooperating with the #BorderUAS project (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/883272/de). Both are about the use of drones. The police in Greece are involved and the applications are to be tested there.

      The acronym ROBORDER stands for „#Autonomous_Swarm_of_Heterogeneous_Robots_for_Border_Surveillance“. It works with drones on water, on land and in the air. In Greece, for example, a drone is to be used to detect „unauthorised sea border crossing“ (https://roborder.eu/the-project/demonstrators), as well as an aircraft from the #Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with a surveillance test platform, #radar systems and thermal imaging cameras.

      All drones in ROBORDER are supposed to be able to operate in swarms. They are controlled via a mobile control centre from the German company #Elettronica. This „#Multipurpose_Mission_Support_Vehicle“ (#MUROS) is used to collect all recorded data (https://www.elettronica.de/de/produkte/oeffentliche-sicherheit-integration). The project, which will soon come to an end, will cost around nine million euros, of which the EU Commission will pay the largest share.

      High-resolution cameras on lighter-than-air drones

      The acronym BorderUAS means „#Semi-Autonomous_Border_Surveillance_Platform_with_a_High-Resolution_Multi-Sensor_Surveillance_Payload“. Border authorities, police forces as well as companies and institutes mainly from Eastern Europe and Greece want to use it to investigate so-called lighter-than-air drones.

      These can be small zeppelins or balloons that are propelled by alternative propulsion systems and have a multitude of sensors and cameras. The participating company #HiperSfera (https://hipersfera.hr) from Croatia markets such systems for border surveillance, for example.

      The project aims to prevent migration on the so-called Eastern Mediterranean route, the Western Balkan route and across the EU’s eastern external land border. According to the project description, these account for 58 percent of all detected irregular border crossings. BorderUAS ends in 2023, and the technology will be tested by police forces in Greece, Ukraine and Belarus until then. The Commission is funding the entire budget with around seven million euros.

      Civilian and military drone research

      For border surveillance, the EU Defence Agency and the Commission are funding numerous civilian and military drone projects in Greece. These include the €35 million #OCEAN2020 project (https://ocean2020.eu), which conducts research on the integration of drones and unmanned submarines into fleet formations. #ARESIBO, which costs around seven million euros (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/833805/de) and on which the Greek, Portuguese and Romanian Ministries of Defence and the #NATO Research Centre are working on drone technology, will end in 2022. With another five million euros, the Commission is supporting an „#Information_Exchange_for_Command_Control_and_Coordination_Systems_at_the_Borders“ (#ANDROMEDA) (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/833881/de). This also involves drones used by navies, coast guards and the police forces of the member states.

      In #CAMELOT (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/740736/de) are flying various drones from Israel and Portugal, and as in ROBORDER, a single ground station is to be used for this purpose. A scenario „illegal activity, illegal immigration persons“ is being tested with various surveillance equipment at the Evros river. The Commission is contributing eight million euros of the total sum. This year, results from #FOLDOUT (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/214861/factsheet/de) will also be tried out on the Greek-Turkish border river Evros, involving satellites, high-flying platforms and drones with technology for „through-foliage detection“ (https://foldout.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Flyer_v1_Foldout_EN_v2_Print.pdf) in the „outermost regions of the EU„. The Commission is allocating eight million euros for this as well.

      Also with EU funding, predominantly Greek partners, including drone manufacturers #ALTUS and #Intracom_Defense, as well as the Air Force, are developing a drone under the acronym LOTUS with „autonomy functions“ and stealth features for surveillance. The project manager promotes the system as suitable for „effective surveillance of borders and migration flows“ (https://www.intracomdefense.com/ide-leader-in-european-defense-programs).

      https://digit.site36.net/2021/06/04/greece-eu-commission-upgrades-border-surveillance-and-criticises-it-at

      #drones #Canada #complexe_militaro-industriel

    • La Grèce construit un mur sur sa frontière avec la Turquie

      22 août - 13h : La Grèce a annoncé vendredi avoir achevé une clôture de 40 km à sa frontière avec la Turquie et mis en place un nouveau système de #surveillance pour empêcher d’éventuels demandeurs d’asile d’essayer d’atteindre l’Europe après la prise de contrôle de l’Afghanistan par les talibans.

      La crise afghane a créé « des possibilités de flux de migrants », a déclaré le ministre de la Protection des citoyens Michalis Chrysochoidis après s’être rendu vendredi dans la région d’Evros avec le ministre de la Défense et le chef des forces armées. « Nous ne pouvons pas attendre passivement l’impact possible », a-t-il affirmé. « Nos frontières resteront sûres et inviolables. »

      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/refugies-balkans-les-dernieres-infos

  • Hidden infrastructures of the European border regime : the #Poros detention facility in Evros, Greece

    This blog post and the research it draws on date before the onset of the current border spectacle in Evros of February/March 2020. Obviously, the situation in Evros region has changed dramatically. Our research however underlines that the Greek state has always resorted to extra-legal methods of border and migration control in the Evros region. Particularly the violent and illegal pushback practices which have persisted for decades in Evros region have now been elevated to official government policy.

    The region of Evros at the Greek-Turkish border was the scene of many changes in the European and Greek border regimes since 2010. The most well-known was the deployment of the Frontex RABIT force in October of that year; while it concluded in 2011, Frontex has had a permanent presence in Evros ever since. In 2011, the then government introduced the ‘Integrated Program for Border Management and Combating Illegal Immigration’ (European Migration Network, 2012), which reflected EU and domestic processes of the Europeanisation of border controls (European Migration Network, 2012; Ilias et al., 2019). The program stipulated a number of measures which impacted the border regime in Evros: the construction of a 12.5km fence along the section of the Greek Turkish border which did not coincide with the Evros river (after which the region takes its name); the expansion of border surveillance technologies and capacities in the area; and the establishment of reception centres where screening procedures would be undertaken (European Migration Network, 2012; Ilias et al., 2019). In this context, one of the measures taken was the establishment of a screening centre in South Evros, near the village of Poros, 46km away from the city of Alexandroupoli – the main urban centre in the area.

    The operation of the Centre for the First Management of Illegal Immigration is documented in Greek (Ministry for Public Order and Citizen Protection, 2013a) and EU official documents (European Parliament, 2012; European Migration Network, 2013), reports by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (2011), NGOs (Pro Asyl, 2012) and activists (CloseTheCamps, 2012), media articles (To Vima, 2012) and research (Düvell, 2012; Schaub, 2013) between 2011 and 2015.

    Yet, during our fieldwork in the area in 2018, none of our respondents mentioned it. Nor could we find any recent research, reports or official documents after 2015 referring to it. It was only a tip from someone we collaborate with that reminded us of the existence of the Poros facility. We found its ‘disappearance’ from public view intriguing. Through fieldwork, document analysis and queries to the Greek authorities, we constructed a genealogy of the Poros centre, from its inception in 2011 to its ambivalent present. Our findings not only highlight the shifting nature of local assemblages of the European border regime, but also raise questions on such ‘hidden’ infrastructures, and the implications of their use for the rights of the people who cross the border.

    A genealogy of Poros

    The Poros centre was originally a military facility, used for border surveillance. In 2012, it was transferred to the Hellenic Police, the civilian authority responsible for migration control and border management, and was formally designated a Centre for the First Management of Illegal Immigration, similar to the more well-known First Reception Centre in Fylakio, in North Evros. The refurbishment and expansion of the old facilities and purchase of necessary equipment were financed through the External borders fund of the European Union (Alexandroupoli Police Directorate, 2011). Visits by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström (To Vima, 2012), the then executive director of Frontex, Ilkka Laitinen (Ministry for Public Order and Citizen Protection, 2013b), and a delegation of the LIBE committee of the European Parliament (2012) illustrated the embeddedness of the centre in the European border regime. The Commission’s report on the implementation of the Greek National Action Plan on Migration Management and Asylum Reform specifically refers the Poros centre as a facility that could be used for screening procedures and vulnerability assessments (European Commission, 2012).

    The Poros facility was indeed used as a screening and identification centre, activities that fell under both border management and the Greek framework for reception procedures introduced in 2011. While official documents of the Greek Government suggest that the centre started operating in 2012 (Council of Europe, 2012), a media article (Alexandroupoli Online, 2011) and a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2011) provide evidence that it was already operational the year before, as an informal reception centre. When the centre became the main screening facility for South Evros in 2012 (European Parliament, 2012), screening, identification and debriefing procedures at the time were carried out both by Hellenic Police personnel and Frontex officers deployed in the area (Council of Europe, 2012).

    One of the very few research sources referring to Poros, a PhD thesis by Laurence Pillant (2017) provides a detailed description of the space and the activities carried out in the old wooden building and the white containers (image 3), visible in the stills from the video we took in December 2020 (image 4). A mission of Medecins sans frontiers, indicated in Pillant’s diagram, provided health screening in 2012 (European Migration Network, 2013).

    The organisation and function of the centre at the time is also documented in a number of mundane administrative acts which we located through diavgeia.gov.gr, a website storing Greek public administration decisions. Containers were bought to create space for the screening and identification procedures (Regional Police Directorate of Macedonia and Thrace, 2012). A local company was awarded contracts for the cleaning of the facilities (Regional Police Directorate of Macedonia and Thrace, 2013). The last administrative documents we were able to locate concerned the establishment of a committee of local police officers to procure services for emptying the cesspit of the centre (Regional Police Directorate of Macedonia and Thrace, 2015) – not all buildings in the area are linked to the local sewage system. This is the point when the administrative trail for Poros goes cold. No documents were found in diavgeia.gov.gr after January 2015.

    So what happened to the Poros Centre?

    After 2015, we found a mere five online references to the centre, despite extensive searches of sources such as official documents, research or reports by human rights bodies and NGOs. A 2016 newspaper article mentioned that arrested migrants were led there for screening (Ta Nea, 2016). A 2018 article in a local online news outlet mentioned a case of malaria in the village of Poros (Evros News, 2018a), while in another article (Evros News, 2018b), the president of the village council blamed a case of malaria in the village on the lack of health screening in the centre. An account of activities of the municipal council of Alexandroupoli referred to fixing an electrical fault in the centre in May 2019 (Municipality of Alexandroupoli, 2019). Τhe Global Detention Project (2019) also refers to Poros as a likely detention place.

    These sources suggested that the centre might be operational in some capacity, yet they raised more questions than they answered. If the centre has been in operation since 2015, why is there such an absence of official sources referring to it? Equally surprising was the absence of administrative acts related to the Poros centre in diavgeia.gov.gr, in contrast to all other facilities in the area where migrants are detained, such as the Fylakio Reception and Identification Centre and the pre-removal centres and police stations. It was conceivable, of course, that the centre fell into disuse. Since the deployment of Frontex and the border control measures taken under the Integrated Plan, entries through the Greek-Turkish land border decreased significantly – from 54,974 in 2011 to 3,784 in 2016 (Hellenic Police, 2020), and screening procedures were transferred to Fylakio, fully operational since 2013 (Reception and Identification Service, 2020).

    Trying to find answers to our questions, we contacted the Hellenic Police. An email we sent in January 2020 was never answered. In early February, following a series of phone calls, we obtained some answers to our questions. The police officer who answered the phone call did not seem to have heard of the centre and wanted to ask other departments for more information, as well as the First Reception and Identification Service, now responsible for screening procedures. The next day, he said it is occasionally used as a detention facility, when there is a high number of apprehended people that cannot be detained in police cells. According to the police officer, they are detained there for one or two days, until they can be transferred to the Reception and Identification Centre of Fylakio for reception procedures, or detention in the pre-removal detention centre adjacent to it. At the same time, he stated that he was told that Poros has been closed for a long time.

    This contradictory information could be down to the distance between the central police directorate in Athens and the area of Evros – it is not unlikely that local arrangements are not known in the central offices. Yet, it was also at odds both with the description of the use of the centre that our informant himself gave us – using the present tense in Greek –, with what the local media articles suggest, and with what we saw on site. Stills from the video taken during fieldwork in December 2020 suggest that the Poros centre is not disused, although no activity could be observed on the day. The cars and vans parked outside did not seem abandoned or rusting. The main building and the containers appeared to be in a good condition. A bright red cloth, maybe a canvas bag, was hanging outside one of them. The rubbish bins were full, but the black bags and other objects in them did not seem as they have been left in the open for a long time (image 4).

    The police officer also asked, however, how we had heard of Poros – a question that alerted us to both the obscure nature of the facility and the sensitivity of our query.
    A hidden infrastructure of pushbacks?

    The Poros centre, at one level, illustrates how the function of such border facilities can change over time, as the local border regime adapts and responds to migratory movements. Fylakio has become the main reception and detention centre in Evros, and between 2015 and 2017, the Aegean islands became the main point of entry into Greece and the European Union. Yet, our findings raised a lot of significant questions regarding the new function of Poros, given the increase in migratory movements in the area since 2018.

    While we obtained official confirmation that the Poros centre is now used for temporary detention and not screening, it remains the case that there are no official documents – including any administrative acts on diavgeia.gov.gr – that confirm its use as a temporary closed detention centre. Equally, we did not manage to obtain any information about how the facility is funded from the Hellenic Police. Our respondent did not know, and another departments we called did not want to share any information about the centre. It also became evident in the course of our research that most of our contacts in Greece – NGOS and journalists – had never heard of the facility or had no recent information about it. We found no evidence to suggest that Greek and European human rights bodies or NGOs which monitor detention facilities have visited the Poros centre after 2015. A mission of the Council of Europe (2019), for example, visited several detention facilities in Evros in April 2018 but the Poros centre was not listed among them. Similarly, the Fundamental Rights Officer of Frontex, in a partly joined mission with the Fundamental Rights Agency, visited detention facilities in South Evros in 2019, the operational area where the Poros centre is located. However, the centre is not mentioned in the report on that visit (Frontex, 2019).

    The dearth of information and absence of monitoring of the facility means that it is unclear whether the facility provides adequate conditions for detention. While our Hellenic police informant stated that detention there lasts for one or two days, there is no outside gate at the Poros centre, just a rather flimsy looking wire fence. Does this mean that detainees are kept inside the main building or containers the whole time they are detained there? We also do not know if detainees have access to phones, legal assistance or healthcare, which the articles in the local press suggest that is absent from the Poros centre. Equally, in the absence of inspections by human rights bodies, we are unaware of the standards of hygiene inside the facilities, or if there is sufficient food available. Administrative acts archived in diavgeia.gov.gr normally offer some answers to such questions but, as we mentioned above, we could find none. In short, it appears that Poros is used as an informal detention centre, hidden from public view.

    The obscurity surrounding the facility, in the context of the local border regime, is extremely worrying. Many NGOs and journalists have documented widespread pushback practices (Arsis et al., 2018; Greek Council for Refugees, 2018; Koçulu, 2019), evidenced through migrant testimonies (Mobile Info Team 2019) and, more recently, videos (Forensic Architecture, 2019a; 2019b). Despite denials by the Hellenic Police and the Greek government, European and international international human rights bodies (Council of Europe, 2019; Committee Against torture 2019) have accepted these testimonies as credible. We have no firm evidence that the Poros facility may be one of the many ‘informal’ detention places migrant testimonies implicated in pushbacks. Yet, the centre is located no further than two kilometres from the Greek-Turkish border, and the layout of the area is similar to the location of a pushback captured on camera and analysed by Forensic Architecture (2019a): near a dirt road with direct access to the Evros River. Black cars and white vans (images 5 and 6), without police insignia and some without number plates, such as those in the Poros centre, have been mentioned in testimonies of pushbacks (Arsis et al., 2018). Objects looking like inflatable boats are visible in our video stills. While there might be other explanations for their presence (used for patrolling the river or confiscated from migrants crossing the river) they are also used during pushbacks operations, and their presence in a detention centre seems odd.

    These uncertainties, and the tendency of security bodies to avoid revealing information on spaces of detention, are not unusual. However, the obscurity surrounding the Poros centre, located in an area of the European border where detention have long attracted criticism and there is considerable evidence of illegal and violent border control practices, should be a concern for all.

    https://www.respondmigration.com/blog-1/border-regime-poros-detention-facility-evros-greece
    #Evros #détention #rétention #détention_administrative #Grèce #refoulement #push-back #push-backs #invisibilité #invisibilisation #Centre_for_the_First_Management_of_Illegal_Immigration #Fylakio #Frontex

    Ce centre, selon ce que le chercheur·es écrivent, est ouvert depuis 2012... or... pas entendu parler de lui avec @albertocampiphoto quand on a été sur place... alors qu’on a vraiment sillonnée la (relativement petite) région pendant 1 mois !

    Donc pas mention de ce centre dans la #carte qu’on a publiée notamment sur @visionscarto :


    https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    ping @reka @karine4

    • En fait, en regardant mieux « notre » carte je me rends compte que peut-être le centre que nous avons identifié comme « #Feres » est en réalité le centre que les auteur·es appellent Poros... les deux localités sont à moins de 5 km l’une de l’autre.
      J’ai écrit aux auteur·es...

      Réponse de Bernd Kasparek, 12.03.2020 :

      Since we have been in front of Poros detention centre, we are certain that it is a distinct entity from the Feres police station, which, as you rightly observe, is also often implicated in reports about push-backs.

      Réponse de Lena Karamanidou le 13.03.2020 :

      Feres is located here: https://goo.gl/maps/gQn15Hdfwo4f3cno6​ , and it’s a much more modern facility (see photo, complete with ubiquitous military van!). However, ​I’m not entirely certain when the new Feres station was built - I think there was an older police station, but then both police and border guard functions were transfered to the new building. Something for me to check in obscure news items and databases!

    • ‘We Are Like Animals’ : Inside Greece’s Secret Site for Migrants

      The extrajudicial center is one of several tactics Greece is using to prevent a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis.


      The Greek government is detaining migrants incommunicado at a secret extrajudicial location before expelling them to Turkey without due process, one of several hard-line measures taken to seal the borders to Europe that experts say violate international law.

      Several migrants said in interviews that they had been captured, stripped of their belongings, beaten and expelled from Greece without being given a chance to claim asylum or speak to a lawyer, in an illegal process known as refoulement. Meanwhile, Turkish officials said that at least three migrants had been shot and killed while trying to enter Greece in the past two weeks.

      The Greek approach is the starkest example of European efforts to prevent a reprise of the 2015 migration crisis in which more than 850,000 undocumented people passed relatively easily through Greece to other parts of Europe, roiling the Continent’s politics and fueling the rise of the far right.

      If thousands more refugees reach Greece, Greek officials fear being left to care for them for years, with little support from other members in the European Union, exacerbating social tensions and further fraying a strained economy. Tens of thousands of migrants already live in squalor on several Greek islands, and many Greeks feel they have been left to shoulder a burden created by wider European indifference.

      The Greek government has defended its actions as a legitimate response to recent provocations by the Turkish authorities, who have transported thousands of migrants to the Greek-Turkish border since late February and have encouraged some to charge and dismantle a border fence.

      The Greek authorities have denied reports of deaths along the border. A spokesman for the Greek government, Stelios Petsas, did not comment on the existence of the site, but said that Greece detained and expelled migrants in accordance with local law. An act passed March 3, by presidential decree, suspended asylum applications for a month and allowed immediate deportations.

      But through a combination of on-the-ground reporting and forensic analysis of satellite imagery, The Times has confirmed the existence of the secret center in northeastern Greece.

      Presented with diagrams of the site and a description of its operations, François Crépeau, a former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said it was the equivalent of a domestic “black site,” since detainees are kept in secret and without access to legal recourse.

      Using footage supplied to several media outlets, The Times has also established that the Greek Coast Guard, nominally a lifesaving institution, fired shots in the direction of migrants onboard a dinghy that was trying to reach Greek shores early this month, beat them with sticks and sought to repel them by driving past them at high speed, risking tipping them into water.

      Forensic analysis of videos provided by witnesses also confirmed the death of at least one person — a Syrian factory worker — after he was shot on the Greek-Turkish border.
      A Secret Site

      When Turkish officials began to bus migrants to the Greek border on Feb. 28, a Syrian Kurd named Somar al-Hussein had a seat on one of the first coaches.

      Turkey already hosts more refugees than any other country — over four million, mostly Syrians — and fears that it may be forced to admit another million because of a recent surge in fighting in northern Syria. To alleviate this pressure, and to force Europe to do more to help, it has weaponized refugees like Mr. al-Hussein by shunting them toward the Continent.

      Mr. al-Hussein, a trainee software engineer, spent that night in the rain on the bank of the Evros River, which divides western Turkey from eastern Greece. Early the next morning, he reached the Greek side in a rubber dinghy packed with other migrants.

      But his journey ended an hour later, he said in a recent interview. Captured by Greek border guards, he said, he and his group were taken to a detention site. Following the group’s journey on his mobile phone, he determined that the site was a few hundred yards east of the border village of Poros.

      The site consisted principally of three red-roofed warehouses set back from a farm road and arranged in a U-shape. Hundreds of other captured migrants waited outside. Mr. al-Hussein was taken indoors and crammed into a room with dozens of others.

      His phone was confiscated to prevent him from making calls, he said, and his requests to claim asylum and contact United Nations officials were ignored.

      “To them, we are like animals,” Mr. al-Hussein said of the Greek guards.

      After a night without food or drink, on March 1 Mr. al-Hussein and dozens of others were driven back to the Evros River, where Greek police officers ferried them back to the Turkish side in a small speedboat.

      Mr. al-Hussein was one of several migrants to provide similar accounts of extrajudicial detentions and expulsions, but his testimony was the most detailed.

      By cross-referencing drawings, descriptions and satellite coordinates that he provided, The Times was able to locate the detention center — in farmland between Poros and the river.

      A former Greek official familiar with police operations confirmed the existence of the site, which is not classified as a detention facility but is used informally during times of high migration flows.

      On Friday, three Times journalists were stopped at a roadblock near the site by uniformed police officers and masked special forces officers.

      The site’s existence was also later confirmed by Respond, a Sweden-based research group.

      Mr. Crépeau, now a professor of international law at McGill University, said the center represented a violation of the right to seek asylum and “the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and of European Union law.”
      Violence at Sea

      Hundreds of miles to the south, in the straits of the Aegean Sea between the Turkish mainland and an archipelago of Greek islands, the Greek Coast Guard is also using force.

      On March 2, a Coast Guard ship violently repelled an inflatable dinghy packed with migrants, in an incident that Turkish officials captured on video, which they then distributed to the press.

      The footage shows the Coast Guard vessel and an unmarked speedboat circling the dinghy. A gunman on one boat shot at least twice into waters by the dinghy, with what appeared to be a rifle, before men from both vessels shoved and struck the dinghy with long black batons.

      It is not clear from the footage whether the man was firing live or non-lethal rounds.

      Mr. Petsas, the government spokesman, did not deny the incident, but said the Coast Guard did not fire live rounds.

      The larger Greek boat also sought to tip the migrants into the water by driving past them at high speed.
      Forensic analysis by The Times shows that the incident took place near the island of Kos after the migrants had clearly entered Greek waters.

      “The action of Greek Coast Guard ships trying to destabilize the refugees’ fragile dinghies, thus putting at risk the life and security of their passengers, is also a violation,” said Mr. Crépeau, the former United Nations official.
      A Killing on Land

      The most contested incident concerns the lethal shooting of Mohammed Yaarub, a 22-year-old Syrian from Aleppo who tried to cross Greece’s northern land border with Turkey last week.

      The Greek government has dismissed his death as “fake news” and denied that anyone has died at the border during the past week.

      An analysis of videos, coupled with interviews with witnesses, confirmed that Mr. Yaarub was killed on the morning of March 2 on the western bank of the Evros River.

      Mr. Yaarub had lived in Turkey for five years, working at a shoe factory, according to Ali Kamal, a friend who was traveling with him. The two friends crossed the Evros on the night of March 1 and camped with a large group of migrants on the western bank of the river.

      By a cartographical quirk, they were still in Turkey: Although the river mostly serves as the border between the two countries, this small patch of land is one of the few parts of the western bank that belongs to Turkey rather than Greece.

      Mr. Kamal last saw his friend alive around 7:30 a.m. the next morning, when the group began walking to the border. The two men were separated, and soon Greek security forces blocked them, according to another Syrian man who filmed the aftermath of the incident and was later interviewed by The Times. He asked to remain anonymous because he feared retribution.

      During the confrontation, Mr. Yaarub began speaking to the men who were blocking their path and held up a white shirt, saying that he came in peace, the Syrian man said.

      Shortly afterward, Mr. Yaarub was shot.

      There is no known video of the moment of impact, but several videos captured his motionless body being carried away from the Greek border and toward the river.

      Several migrants who were with Mr. Yaarub at the time of his death said a Greek security officer had shot him.

      Using video metadata and analyzing the position of the sun, The Times confirmed that he was shot around 8:30 a.m., matching a conclusion reached by Forensic Architecture, an investigative research group.

      Video shows that it took other migrants about five minutes to ferry Mr. Yaarub’s body back across the river and to a car. He was then taken to an ambulance and later a Turkish hospital.

      An analysis of other footage shot elsewhere on the border showed that Greek security forces used lethal and non-lethal ammunition in other incidents that day, likely fired from a mix of semiautomatic and assault rifles.
      E.U. Support for Greece

      Mr. Petsas, the government spokesman, defended Greece’s tough actions as a reasonable response to “an asymmetrical and hybrid attack coming from a foreign country.”

      Besides ferrying migrants to the border, the Turkish police also fired tear-gas canisters in the direction of Greek security forces and stood by as migrants dismantled part of a border fence, footage filmed by a Times journalist showed.

      Before this evidence of violence and secrecy had surfaced, Greece won praise from leaders of the European Union, who visited the border on March 3.

      “We want to express our support for all you did with your security services for the last days,” said Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, the bloc’s top decision-making body.

      The European Commission, the bloc’s administrative branch, said that it was “not in a position to confirm or deny” The Times’s findings, and called on the Greek justice system to investigate.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/world/europe/greece-migrants-secret-site.html

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/world/europe/greece-migrants-secret-site.html

      #Mohammed_Yaarub #décès #mourir_aux_frontières

    • Grécia nega existência de centro de detenção “secreto” onde os migrantes são tratados “como animais”

      New York Times citou vários migrantes que dizem ter sido roubados e agredidos pelos guardas fronteiriços, antes de deportados para a Turquia. Erdogan compara gregos aos nazis.

      Primeiro recusou comentar, mas pouco mais de 24 horas depois o Governo da Grécia refutou totalmente a notícia do New York Times. Foi esta a sequência espaçada da reacção de Atenas ao artigo do jornal norte-americano, publicado na terça-feira, que deu conta da existência de um centro de detenção “secreto”, perto da localidade fronteiriça de Poros, onde muitos dos milhares de migrantes que vieram da Turquia, nos últimos dias, dizem ter sido roubados, despidos e agredidos, impedidos de requerer asilo ou de contactar um advogado, e deportados, logo de seguida, pelos guardas fronteiriços gregos.
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      “Para eles somos como animais”, acusou Somar al-Hussein, sírio, um dos migrantes entrevistados pelo diário nova-iorquino, que entrou na Grécia através do rio Evros e que diz ter sido alvo de tratamento abusivo no centro de detenção “secreto”.

      “Não há nenhum centro de detenção secreto na Grécia”, garantiu, no entanto, esta quarta-feira, Stelios Petsas, porta-voz do executivo grego. “Todas as questões relacionadas com a protecção e a segurança das fronteiras são transparentes. A Constituição está a ser aplicada e não há nada de secreto”, insistiu.

      Com jornalistas no terreno, impedidos de entrar no local por soldados gregos, o New York Times entrevistou diversos migrantes que dizem ter sido ali alvo de tratamento desumano, analisou imagens de satélite, informou-se junto de um centro de estudos sueco sobre migrações que opera na zona e falou com um antigo funcionário grego familiarizado com as operações policiais fronteiriças. Informação que diz ter-lhe permitido confirmar a existência do centro.

      https://www.publico.pt/2020/03/11/mundo/noticia/grecia-nega-existencia-centro-detencao-secreto-onde-migrantes-sao-tratados-a

      #paywall

    • Greece : Rights watchdogs report spike in violent push-backs on border with Turkey

      A Balkans-based network of human rights organizations says that the number of migrants pushed back from Greece into Turkey has spiked in recent weeks. The migrants allegedly reported beatings and violent collective expulsions from inland detention spaces to Turkey on boats across the Evros River.

      Greek officers “forcefully pushed [people] in the van while the policemen were kicking them with their legs and shouting at them.” Then, the migrants were detained, forced to sign untranslated documents and pushed back across the Evros River at night. Over the next few days, Turkish authorities returned them to Greece, but then they were pushed back again.

      This account from 50 Afghans, Pakistanis, Syrians and Algerians aged between 15 and 35 years near the town of Edirne at the Greek-Turkish border was one of at least seven accounts a network of Balkans-based human rights watchdogs says it received from refugees over the course of six weeks, between March and late April.

      The collection of reports (https://www.borderviolence.eu/press-release-documented-pushbacks-from-centres-on-the-greek-mainland), published last week by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), with help from its members Mobile Info Team (MIT) and Wave Thessaloniki, consists of “first-hand testimonies and photographic evidence” which the network says shows “violent collective expulsions” of migrants and refugees. According to the network, the number of individuals who were pushed back in groups amount to 194 people.
      https://twitter.com/mobileinfoteam/status/1257632384348020737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Without exception, according to the report, all accounts come from people staying in the refugee camp in Diavata and the Drama Paranesti pre-removal detention center. They included Afghans, Pakistanis, Algerians and Moroccans, as well as Bangladeshi, Tunisian and Syrian nationals.

      In the case of Diavata, according to the report, migrants said police took them away, telling them they would receive a document known as “Khartia” to regularize their stay temporarily. The Diavata camp is located near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

      Instead, the migrants were “beaten, robbed and detained before being driven to the border area where military personnel used boats to return them to Turkey across the Evros River,” they said. Another large group reported that they were taken from detention in Drama Paranesti, also located in northern Greece, some 80 kilometers from the border with Turkey, and expelled in the same way.

      While such push-backs from Greece into Turkey are not new, the network of NGOs says the latest incidents are somewhat different: “Rarely have groups been removed from inner-city camps halfway across the territory or at such a scale from inland detention spaces,” Simon Campbell of the Border Violence Monitoring Network told InfoMigrants.

      “Within the existing closure of the Greek asylum office and restriction measures due to COVID-19, the repression of asylum seekers and wider transit community looks to have reached a zenith in these cases,” Campbell said.

      Although Greece last month lifted a controversial temporary ban on asylum applications imposed in response to an influx of refugees from Turkey, all administrative services to the public by the Greek Asylum Service were suspended on March 13.

      The suspension, which the Asylum Service said serves to “control the spread of COVID-19” pandemic, will continue at least through May 15.

      https://twitter.com/GreekAsylum/status/1248651007489433600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Reports of violence and torture

      The accounts in the report by the network of NGOs describe a range of violent actions toward migrants, from electricity tasers and water immersion to beatings with batons.

      According to one account, some 50 people were taken from Diavata camp to a nearby police station, where they were ordered to lie on the ground and told to “sleep here, don’t move.” Then they were beaten with batons, while others were attacked with tasers.

      They were held overnight in a detention space near the border, and beaten further by Greek military officers. The next day, they were boated across the river to Turkey by authorities with ’military uniform, masks, guns, electric [taser].’"

      Another group reported that they were “unloaded in the dark” next to the Evros River and “ordered to strip to their underwear.” Greek authorities allegedly used batons and their fists to hit some members of the group.

      Alexandra Bogos, advocacy officer with the Mobile Info Team, told InfoMigrants they were concerned about the “leeway afforded for these push-backs from the inner mainland to take place.”

      Bogos said they reached out to police departments after they learned about the arrests, but police felt “unencumbered” and continued transporting the people to the Greek-Turkish border. “On one occasion, we reached out and asked specifically for information about one individual. The answer was: ’He does not appear in our system’,” Bogos said.

      https://twitter.com/juliahahntv/status/1246165904406261773?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      An Amnesty report (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/2077/2020/en) from April about unlawful push-backs, beatings and arbitrary detention echoes the accusations in the report by the network of NGOs.

      History of forcible rejections

      Over the past three years, violent push-backs have been documented in several reports. Last November, German news magazine Spiegel reported that between 2017 and 2018 Greece illegally deported 60,000 migrants to Turkey. The process involved returning asylum seekers without assessing their status. Greece dismissed the accusations.

      In 2018, the Greek Refugee Council and other NGOs published a report containing testimonies from people who said they had been beaten, sometimes by masked men, and sent back to Turkey (https://www.gcr.gr/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/1028-the-new-normality-continuous-push-backs-of-third-country-nationals-on-the-e).

      UN refugee agency UNHCR and the European Human Rights Commissioner called on Greece to investigate the claims. In late 2018, another report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), also based on testimonies of migrants, said that violent push-backs were continuing (https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/18/greece-violent-pushbacks-turkey-border).

      It is often unclear who is carrying out the push-backs because they often wear masks and cannot be easily identified. In the HRW report, they are described as paramilitaries. Eyewitnesses interviewed by HRW said the perpetrators “looked like police officers or soldiers, as well as some unidentified masked men.”

      Simon Campbell of the Border Violence Monitoring Network said the reports he receives also regularly describe “military uniforms,” which “suggests it is the Greek army carrying out the push-backs,” he told InfoMigrants.

      Last week, the Spiegel published an investigation into the killing of Pakistani Muhammad Gulzar (https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-910), who was shot at the Greek-Turkish border on March 4. “Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the bullet came from a Greek firearm,” the authors wrote.

      Violations of EU and international law

      Push-backs are prohibited by Greek and EU law as well as international treaties and agreements. They also violate the principle of non-refoulement, which means the forcible return of a person to a country where they are likely to be subject to persecution.

      In March, Jürgen Bast, professor for European law at the University of Gießen in Germany, called the action of Greek security forces an “open breach of the law” on German TV magazine Monitor.

      Greece is not the only country accused of violating EU laws at the bloc’s external border: On top of the 100 additional border guards the European border and coast guard agency Frontex deployed to the Greek border with Turkey in March, Germany sent 77 police officers to help with border security.
      Professor Bast called Berlin’s involvement a “complete political joint responsibility” of the German government. “All member states of the European Union...including the Commission...have decided to ignore the validity of European law,” he told Monitor.

      In response to a request for comment from InfoMigrants, a spokesperson for EU border and coast guard agency Frontex would confirm neither the reports by the three NGOs nor the existence of systematic push-backs from Greece to Turkey.

      “Frontex has not received any reports of such violations from the officers involved in its activities in Greece,” the spokesperson said, adding that its officers’ job is to “support member states and to ensure the rule of law.”

      Coronavirus used as a pretext?

      On the afternoon of May 5, as the network of NGOs published their report on push-backs, police reportedly rounded up 26-year-old Pakistani national Sheraz Khan outside the Diavata refugee camp. After sending the Mobile Info Team (MIT) a message telling them “Police caught us,” he tried calling the NGO twice, but the connection failed both times.

      MIT’s Alexandra Bogos told InfoMigrants that Khan has not been heard of since and he has not returned to the camp. “We have strong reasons to believe that he may have been pushed back to Turkey,” Bogos said.

      A day later, the police arrived in the morning and “started removing tents and structures set up in an overflow area” outside the Diavata camp.

      Simon Campbell of the Border Violence Monitoring Network said the restrictive measures taken as a response to the coronavirus pandemic have been used to remove those who have crossed the border.

      “COVID-19 has been giving the Greek authorities a blank cheque to act with more impunity,” Campbell told InfoMigrants. “When Covid-19 restrictions lift, will we have already seen this more expansive push-back practice entrenched, and will it persist beyond the lockdown?”

      https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/24620/greece-rights-watchdogs-report-spike-in-violent-push-backs-on-border-w

    • Spaces of Detention at the Greek-Turkish Land Border

      Guest post by Lena Karamanidou, Bernd Kasparek and Simon Campbell. Lena Karamanidou is a researcher at the Department of Economics and Law, Glasgow Caledonian University. Her recent work has focused on the EU border agency Frontex, pushbacks and border violence at the Greek-Turkish land border. Simon Campbell is a field coordinator with the Border Violence Monitoring Network, a collective of organisations and initiatives based in South Eastern Europe documenting pushbacks and violence within state borders. Bernd Kasparek is an undisciplined cultural anthropologist, with a focus on migration and border studies, europeanisation, racism and (digital) infrastructures. His book “Europa als Grenze” (Europe as Border), an ethnography of the European border agency Frontex is forthcoming in Summer 2021.

      The local coach from Alexandroupoli to Orestiada, the two largest towns in Evros, the region of the Greek-Turkish border, passes outside two border guard stations: Tychero and Neo Cheimonio [images 1 & 2]. Their function as detention spaces is barely discernible from the road; without the Hellenic police signs and vehicles outside, the Tychero border guard station could be mistaken for the wheat warehouse it once was. The train between the two cities, though, passes behind the Tychero facility; from there you can see a gated structure at the back of the station, resembling prison railings, which may have been used as a kind of ‘outside space’ for detainees. Reports by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the Greek Council for Refugees criticised the absence of outside space and conditions of detention (described sarcastically as ‘best of the best’ by a police officer interviewed by one of the authors in 2011).

      Although the Greek government announced the closure of the Tychero station in 2013, after several critical reports on conditions of detention there, it continued to be used as a detention space. While detention facilities may be perceived as stable, permanent or at least long-term structures at the core of European border regimes, their histories in Evros suggest temporal, spatial and functional disruptions. The creation of detention facilities since the 1990s appeared to be ad hoc, reflecting the increasing significance of the area as a key entry point to the European Union and the Europeanisation of border management both nationally and locally.

      Spaces for detention were created out of existing facilities such as cells in local police stations and in border guard stations. The latter were established in 1999 - some of which are housed together with police stations, like in the towns of Feres [image 3] and Soufli, and others in separate facilities as in the villages of Tychero, Isaakio and Neo Cheimonio. While it is difficult to find specific information on their history, some detention facilities emerged early in the 2000s, for example in the village of Venna in the Rhodopi prefecture near the boundary with Evros. The Fylakio facility [image 4] was established as a detention centre in 2007 before being renamed a pre-removal centre following legal reforms in 2012. Yet, detention capacity in the area never quite met the needs imposed by the extensive use of detention as an instrument of control. Until the early 2010s, ad hoc, makeshift structures and centres were used at different times in Feres and at the villages of Dikaia, Vrissika [image 5], Elafochori [image 6] and Peplos – all now closed, as well as the one in Venna. The #Venna, #Peplos, #Vrissika, #Elafochori and #Tychero facilities, as well as the temporary Feres structure referred to in the 1999 CPT report, were all repurposed wheat warehouses, formerly property of a state agricultural agency closed down in the early 1990s.

      The facilities mentioned above are official ones. Their function can be traced in official documents – Greek, European and international - as well as in reports by NGOs and human rights organisations and research. However, they are not the only spaces where people may be detained in the area. One example of a ‘quasi-official’ place is the detention facility in Poros [image 7]. Originally a military structure that was converted into a ‘reception’ facility where screening, identification and debriefing procedures took place in 2012, by the late 2010s the centre had fallen into obscurity. From 2015 until 2020, there was little evidence of its use other than a few administrative documents and media reports, and it is unclear when its function switched from a reception to a detention facility. It was only in 2020, through research, investigations and journalism that the Poros facility became ‘known’ again, coinciding with the border spectacle in Evros that year. The government denied that the facility was ‘secret’ – ‘if the New York Times know about it, then I don’t see how such a detention centre can be a secret’, stated the government spokesman. Yet, the CPT described the facility as ‘semi-official’ and supported claims that it was used as a holding facility prior to pushbacks, given ‘the complete absence of any registration of detention’.

      To date, Poros is probably the only facility whose use as a ‘hidden’ detention centre was revealed . Testimonial evidence collected by NGOs and research organisations (for example here, here and here) suggests that detention in informal facilities prior to pushbacks may be a common practice in the area. These sites are used to hold groups captured within the footfall area of the border, but also to receive detainees transferred from across the Greek interior, from urban areas, police stations, and pre-removal detention facilities. Their aggregate role in pooling people-on-the-move prior to pushbacks to Turkey is also intimated by their bare functional layout [image 8]. Several testimonies of people who have been pushed back from Evros to Turkey refer to detention in buildings that did not appear to be police or border guard stations, and were not properly equipped with toilets, running water or beds. The holding cells recounted in these testimonies were composed of fenced yards, portacabins, warehouses, garages, and even animal pens:

      “the room did not look like a normal prison or police station but more like a stable”

      “They drove us to an old room close to the river. It was a stable. It didn’t have a proper floor, but dirt”.

      This unofficial repurposing of agrarian or semi-industrial outbuildings for detention in some senses mirrors the improvised architecture Greek authorities used to expand its official sites in Evros from the 90s onwards. Yet without the formal authorisation, nor the visual signifiers demarcating these sites, the web of new – and possibly old - unofficial detention centres are extremely difficult to locate. People detained there often do not know the exact location because of the way they are transported. Speaking to people who had likely been detained in Tychero, testimonies published by the Border Violence Monitoring Network described how “since the vehicle had no windows, the respondent could not see the building from the outside.” For researchers and investigators, geolocating these sites has become a near impossible task, not only because of the secrecy that characterises the practices of pushbacks and the risks of in situ research, but also because of multiple potential locations and a large number of buildings that could serve as informal detention facilities.

      Detention in Greece has been a core technique for governing migration, reflecting policies of illegalisation and criminalising unauthorised entry, even if deportations, which provided one of the key reasons for detention, were not feasible. However, the linkages between detention and pushbacks at the Greek – Turkish border illustrate how the governance of borders relies on assemblages of both formal and informal practices and infrastructures. The proliferation of these structures, often concealed by their benign outward appearance as farm buildings, fits in with the dispersed geography of pushbacks - and the way detention is increasingly serving as a temporal stage within the execution of violent removals.

      https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2021/05/spaces-detention

  • Turkey to open #Idlib border and allow Syrian refugees free passage to Europe

    Route out of northwestern Syria to be opened for 72 hours, officials tell MEE, after 33 Turkish troops killed in attack by pro-Assad forces.

    Turkey will open its southwestern border with Syria for 72 hours to allow Syrians fleeing the pro-government forces’ assault free passage to Europe, Turkish official sources have told Middle East Eye.

    The decision came after a security meeting chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara late on Thursday after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in Syria’s Idlib province.

    A senior Turkish official said on Thursday that Syrian refugees headed towards Europe would not be stopped either on land or by sea.

    The official said that Ankara would order police and border and sea patrols to stand down if they detected any Syrian refugees trying to cross into Europe.

    Groups of Syrian refugees and migrants from other countries began heading to Turkey’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria after the announcement was made.

    Various Turkish refugee groups have also organised buses for Syrian refugees intending to head to Turkey’s border with Europe.

    The governor of Hatay province said that Turkish soldiers were killed in a Syrian government attack in Idlib, a province where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been staging an offensive against rebels since December.

    Since then, about a million civilians have been displaced towards the Turkish border - more than half of them children - and hundreds have been killed in the onslaught.
    Nato meeting

    Turkey blamed Thursday’s air strike on Syrian government forces, who are backed by Russia.

    However, Russia’s defence ministry was cited by the RIA news agency on Friday as saying that the Turkish troops had been hit by artillery fire from Syrian government forces who were trying to repel an offensive by Turkish-backed rebel forces.

    Russia is sending two warships equipped with cruise missiles to the Mediterranean Sea towards the Syrian coast, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s Black Sea fleet as saying on Friday.

    North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ambassadors were meeting in Brussels on Friday at Turkey’s request to hold consultations about developments in Syria, the alliance said.

    Under article four of Nato’s founding Washington Treaty, any ally can request consultations whenever, in their opinion, their territorial integrity, political independence or security are threatened.
    Migrants not allowed through

    Turkey’s Demiroren news agency said around 300 migrants, including women and children, had begun heading towards the borders between European Union countries Greece and Bulgaria and Turkey’s Edirne province at around midnight on Thursday.

    Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Moroccans were among those in the group, it said.

    It said migrants had also gathered in the western Turkish coastal district of Ayvacik in Canakkale province with the aim of travelling by boat to the Greek island of Lesbos.

    Video footage of the migrants broadcast by pro-government Turkish television channels could also not immediately be verified.

    Turkish broadcaster NTV showed scores of people walking through fields wearing backpacks and said the refugees had tried to cross the Kapikule border into Bulgaria, but were not allowed through.

    It said the same group of migrants had then walked through fields to reach the Pazarkule border crossing into Greece, but it was unclear what happened to them thereafter.

    Greece has tightened sea and land borders with Turkey after the overnight developments in Idlib, government sources told Reuters on Friday.

    The sources, who declined to be identified, said Athens was also in contact with the European Union and Nato on the matter.
    ’Turkey is currently hitting all known regime targets’

    The Turkish soldiers’ deaths are the biggest number of fatalities suffered by Ankara’s forces in a single day since it began deploying thousands of troops into Idlib in recent weeks in a bid to halt the military push by Assad’s forces and their allies.

    The latest incident means a total of 46 Turkish security personnel have been killed this month in Idlib.

    Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan’s communications director, said in a written statement that the Turkish government had decided in the meeting to retaliate against Assad’s forces by land and by air.

    “Turkey is currently hitting all known regime targets. What happened in Rwanda and Bosnia cannot be allowed to be repeated in Idlib,” he said.

    Attacks on Turkish forces have caused severe tensions between the Syrian government’s key ally, Russia, and Turkey, which backs certain opposition groups in Idlib.

    Erdogan had vowed to launch a military operation to push back Syrian government forces if they did not retreat from a line of Turkish observations posts by the end of February.

    The nine-year war in Syria has devastated much of the country. An estimated half a million people have been killed and millions have been forced to live as refugees.

    Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, having taken in some 3.7 million Syrians.

    Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to open the gates for migrants to travel to Europe.

    If it did so, it would reverse a pledge Turkey made to the EU in 2016 and could draw western powers into the standoff over Idlib.

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-syrian-refugees-free-passage-europe-soldiers-killed-Idlib

    #turquie #frontières #ouverture_des_frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Erdogan #bras_de_fer #Europe

    –-

    ajouté à la métaliste sur les refoulements dans l’Evros :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/914147

    • La #Grèce bloque des centaines de migrants à sa frontière avec la Turquie

      A la suite de la montée des tensions en Syrie, Ankara avait plus tôt affirmé que le pays « ne retiendrait pas » les migrants qui cherchent à rejoindre l’Europe. La Grèce a annoncé avoir renforcé ses patrouilles à la frontière.


      https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/02/28/la-turquie-menace-d-ouvrir-la-porte-de-l-europe-aux-migrants_6031137_3210.ht

    • Greek police fire teargas on migrants at border with Turkey

      Greek police fired teargas toward migrants who were gathered on its border with Turkey and demanding entry on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria abruptly moved onto the European Union’s doorstep.

      The Greek government reiterated its promise to keep migrants out.

      “The government will do whatever it takes to protect its borders,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters, adding that in the past 24 hours Greek authorities had averted attempts by 4,000 people to cross.

      Live images from Greece’s Skai TV on the Turkish side of the northern land border at Kastanies showed Greek riot police firing teargas rounds at groups of migrants who were hurling stones and shouting obscenities.

      Media were not permitted to approach the Greek side of the border in the early morning, but the area smelled heavily of teargas, a Reuters witness said.

      A Turkish government official said late Thursday that Turkey will no longer contain the hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers after an air strike on war-ravaged Idlib in Syria killed 33 Turkish soldiers earlier that day.

      Almost immediately, convoys of people appeared heading to the Greek land and sea borders on Friday.

      An estimated 3,000 people had gathered on the Turkish side of the border at Kastanies, according to a Greek government official. Kastanies lies just over 900 km (550 miles)north-east of Athens.

      Greece, which was a primary gateway for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016, has promised it will keep the migrants out.

      However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that some 18,000 migrants had crossed borders from Turkey into Europe. Speaking in Istanbul, he did not immediately provide evidence for the number, but said it would rise.

      Greek police were keeping media about a kilometre away from the Kastanies border crossing, but the broader area, where the two countries are divided by a river, was more permeable.

      A group of Afghans with young children waded across fast-moving waters of the Evros river and took refuge in a small chapel. They crossed into Greece on Friday morning.

      “Today is good” said Shir Agha, 30 in broken English. “Before, Erdogan people, police problem,” he said. Their shoes were caked in mud. It had rained heavily the night before, and by early morning, temperatures were close to freezing.

      Greece had already said on Thursday it would tighten border controls to prevent coronavirus reaching its Aegean islands, where thousands of migrants are living in poor conditions.

      Nearly a million refugees and migrants crossed from Turkey to Greece’s islands in 2015, setting off a crisis over immigration in Europe, but that route all but closed after the European Union and Ankara agreed to stop the flow in March 2016.

      https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN20N0F6
      #Evros #région_de_l'Evros

    • ’Following last night’s announcement of Turkish plans to open the borders with Greece for 72 hours, a large number of people attempted to cross the Evros/Meriç border near the 11km-long fence in Kastanies.
      They were stopped and are now trapped in the buffer zone between the two countries, surrounded by Greek and Turkish armed forces. Tear gas and stun grenade were reportedly used to dispersed the crowds.
      Human Rights 360 and @ForensicArchi have obtained material from the ground, including proof of people being pushed back across the border from Greece to Turkey and are monitoring the situation.
      As night has fallen, these people fear their human rights will be violated further. We urge the European, Greek, and Turkish authorities to safeguard their rights and safety.


      https://twitter.com/rights360/status/1233468982788841479

    • ’Number of migrants leaving Turkey reaches 36,776’

      Migrants departing from Turkey via northwestern border province of #Edirne, says country’s interior minister.

      The number of migrants leaving Turkey via its northwestern border province of Edirne reached 36,776, the country’s interior minister said on Saturday.

      In a statement on Twitter, Suleyman Soylu said that the number was registered as of 9.02 p.m. local time (1802 GMT).

      Turkish officials announced Friday that they would no longer try to stop irregular migrants from reaching Europe.

      The decision was made as 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred at the hands of regime forces in Idlib, Syria. The Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a 2018 deal with Russia under which acts of aggression are prohibited in the region.

      Since then, thousands of irregular migrants have flocked to Edirne to make their way into Europe.

      Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million migrants from Syria alone, more than any other country in the world.

      It has repeatedly complained that Europe has failed to keep its promises to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.

      https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/number-of-migrants-leaving-turkey-reaches-36-776/1750216

    • Erdoğan says border will stay open as Greece tries to repel influx

      Turkish leader claims 18,000 people have crossed into EU but some are met with teargas.

      Thousands of migrants may be in no man’s land between Turkey and Greece after Ankara opened its western borders, sparking chaotic scenes as Greek troops attempted to prevent refugees from entering Europe en masse.

      Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, claimed 18,000 migrants had crossed the border, without immediately providing supporting evidence, but many appear to have been repelled by Greek border patrols firing teargas and stun grenades.

      Erdoğan has long threatened to allow refugees and migrants transit into the EU, with which Turkey signed an accord in 2016 to stem westward migration in return for financial aid.

      He stressed the frontier would remain open. “We will not close these doors in the coming period and this will continue,” he said in Istanbul on Saturday. “Why? The European Union needs to keep its promises. We are not obliged to look after and feed so many refugees. If you’re honest, if you’re sincere, then you need to share.”

      Erdoğan complained that funds transferred to Turkey from the EU to support refugees were arriving too slowly, saying he had asked Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, to send them directly to his government.

      But the policy shift appears to be intended to force the EU and Nato to support Ankara’s new military campaign in the north-western province of Idlib, Syria’s last rebel stronghold, where thousands of Turkish soldiers are supporting opposition forces facing an onslaught from regime forces backed by Russian air power.

      Erdoğan said Turkey could not handle a new wave of migration, in an apparent reference to the growing humanitarian crisis in Idlib.

      The Idlib offensive has pushed almost a million displaced civilians toward the Syrian-Turkish border, and hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians remain between advancing Syrian government forces backed by Russia and rebel fighters supported by Turkey.

      In the largest single loss of life to Turkish forces since their country became involved in the Syria conflict, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike on Thursday night.

      After officials briefed on Friday that police, coastguard and border guards had been ordered to stand down, meaning passage to Europe would be no longer prevented, thousands of refugees and migrants made haste to Turkey’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Many travelled on buses provided by the Turkish state.

      They were met by Greek border patrols reportedly firing teargas and stun grenades. Some young migrants and refugees appeared to hurl rocks at the guards.

      “A titanic battle [is being waged] to keep our frontiers closed,” said Panayiotis Harelas, who heads the federation of border guards during an impromptu press conference at the scene.

      A 17-year-old Iranian who had made it into Greece overnight along with a group of friends told the Associated Press he had spent two months in Turkey and could not sustain himself there. “We learned the border was open and we headed there,” he said. “But we saw it was closed and we found a hole in the fence and went through it.”

      Greek authorities said 52 ships were patrolling the seas around Lesbos, along with other Aegean isles, in an apparent show of force to deter clandestine voyages. Greece has also bolstered its eastern land border, while Bulgaria has sent an extra 1,000 troops to its border with Turkey.

      A Greek government spokesperson, Stelios Petsas, said after an emergency meeting of ministers that security forces had repelled “more than 4,000 illegal entries”. Sixty-six people had been arrested after making their way through forest land into the country, none of whom were believed to hail from Idlib, according to Petsas.

      On Saturday morning high winds on Lesbos were mostly preventing arrivals there, with just one boat containing 27 people from various African countries reported to have reached the island. Another 180 reached other Greek islands from Turkey between Friday morning and Saturday morning, according to the coastguard.

      There are more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, along with many others fleeing war and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Turkey’s borders to Europe were closed to migrants following a £5.2bn deal with the EU in 2016 after more than a million people crossed into Europe by foot.

      As that policy was effectively reversed, Erdoğan claimed that the number of people entering Europe from Turkey could rise to up to 30,000 on Saturday.

      He also said he had told Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to end his support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria so that Turkey could more easily battle Assad’s forces.

      “We did not go [to Syria] because we were invited by [Assad],” he said. “We went there because we were invited by the people of Syria. We don’t intend to leave before the people of Syria [say] OK, this is done.”

      Syrian and Russian warplanes kept up airstrikes on the strategically important Idlib city of Saraqib on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There were reports that nine Assad-supporting Hezbollah forces were killed by Turkish smart missiles and drones.

      Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that the two sides had agreed this week to reduce tensions on the ground in Idlib, though military action will continue, after Nato envoys held emergency talks at the request of Turkey, a member of the alliance.

      While urging de-escalation in Idlib, Nato offered no immediate assistance but said it would consider strengthening Ankara’s air defences.

      The UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an immediate ceasefire and said the risk of ever greater escalation was growing by the hour, with civilians paying the gravest price.

      https://seenthis.net/messages/828209

    • Austria says it will stop any migrants trying to rush its border

      Austria will stop any migrants attempting to rush its border if measures to halt them in Greece and through the Balkans fail, conservative Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Sunday.

      Greek police fired tear gas to repel hundreds of stone-throwing migrants who tried to force their way across the border from Turkey on Sunday, with thousands more behind them after Ankara relaxed curbs on their movement. It was the second straight day of clashes.

      The rush echoes Europe’s migration crisis in 2015-2016, when Austria served as a corridor into Germany for hundreds of thousands of migrants who traveled through Greece and the Balkans. Austria also took in more than 1% of its population in asylum seekers in the process.

      “Hungary has assured us that it will protect its borders as best it can, like Croatia’s,” Nehammer told broadcaster ORF, referring to two of Austria’s neighbors. Migrants coming up through the Balkans would almost certainly have to pass through either of those countries before reaching Austria.

      “Should, despite that, people reach us then they must be stopped,” he said when asked what Austria would do.

      Nehammer’s boss, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, built his career on a hard line on immigration, pledging to prevent a repeat of 2015’s influx. He governed in coalition with the far right from 2017 until last year, and is back in power with the Greens as a junior partner.

      When Kurz was foreign minister in 2016, Austria coordinated border restrictions in neighboring Balkan countries to stop migrants reaching it from Greece.

      Austria is prepared to do the same again if necessary, Kurz and Nehammer have indicated. Kurz is an outspoken critic of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, a popular stance in his conservative Alpine country.

      Turkey said on Thursday it would let migrants cross its borders into Europe, despite a commitment to hold them in its territory under a 2016 deal with the European Union.

      Turkey’s turnabout came after an air strike killed 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria, and appeared to be an effort to press for more EU aid in tackling the refugee crisis from Syria’s civil war.

      “The second safety net, and here the Austrian security services have a lot of previous experience, is close cooperation and also support, whether that be financial, material or in terms of personnel, with countries along the (migrants’) escape route,” Nehammer said, referring to Balkan countries.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-austria-idUSKBN20O2CS
      #route_des_Balkans #Autriche

    • Evros: Greek Army announces exercise with live ammunition on March 2

      Real ammunition will be used on Monday, March 2, 2020, across the Evros river, an announcement by the Greek Army said late on Sunday.

      The 4th Army Corps has announced military exercises with live ammunition at all border outposts at Kipoi and Kastanies where thousands of migrants and refugees have amassed. The broader area of the 24-hour exercise is where also all migrants crossings are in general.

      According to the announcement, guns, machine guns, rifles and pistols will be used during the military exercise with live ammunition.

      Listing the specific areas where the exercise will take place, the Army warns that “movement or stay of persons, trucks and animals during shooting hours is prohibited to avoid accidents.”

      “Non-exploded bullets that may be found, shod not me removed,” and the nearest police authorities should be immediately notified.”

      The timing of the military exercise and thus on a Greek holiday – Clean Monday – is peculiar, but it may serve rather the “internal consumption” and to scare off the migrants, comments news website tvxs.gr

      On Sunday, Greek special police forces and army fired warning shots during patrol in the Evros area in order to deter migrants trying to cross into the country.

      https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/03/02/greece-army-exercise-live-ammunition-mar2

      #armée #militarisation_des_frontières #armes #armes_à_feu

    • Greece Suspends Asylum as Turkey Opens Gates for Migrants

      Greece took a raft of tough measures Sunday as it tried to repel thousands of migrants amassed at its border with Turkey.

      It deployed major military forces to the border, seeking to fortify the area after Turkey allowed migrants to pass through to the European Union over the weekend. The Greek government also said it would suspend asylum applications for a month and summarily deport migrants entering illegally.

      The developments were increasing tensions between the two countries, leaving thousands of people exposed to winter weather and caught in an increasingly volatile situation.

      Neither move announced by Greece is permitted by European Union law, but the Greek government said it would request special dispensation from the bloc. International protocols on the protection of refugees, of which Greece is a signatory, also prohibit such policies.

      “Turkey, instead of curbing migrant and refugee smuggling networks, has become a smuggler itself,” the Greek government said in a statement.

      Military officials would not say how many additional troops were being deployed, but they confirmed that they were stepping up joint military and police operations along the border. Dozens of military vehicles were seen moving toward various outposts along Greece’s 120-mile boundary with Turkey.

      The fortification of the area came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey confirmed on Saturday that he was opening Turkey’s border for migrants to enter Europe, saying that his country could no longer handle the huge numbers of people fleeing the war in Syria.

      Mr. Erdogan accused European leaders of failing to keep their promise to help Turkey bear the load of hosting 3.6 million Syrian refugees. And he demanded European support for his military operation against a Russian and Syrian offensive in northern Syria that has displaced at least a million Syrians, many of whom are now heading toward the Turkish border. The Turkish Army also suffered significant casualties last week in an airstrike in northwest Syria.

      The president of the European Council said he would visit the Greek-Turkish line on Tuesday with the Greek prime minister, and the European Union announced an urgent foreign ministers’ meeting sometime this week to deliberate on the crisis.

      Thousands of migrants languishing in Turkey were on the move this weekend after Mr. Erdogan said he would not stand in their way. Many dropped everything the moment they heard the border was opening and rushed by bus or taxi, fearing they might miss the chance to get across.

      The Greek government, alarmed at the unfolding migrant wave, said it had sent a warning through mass text messages to all international phone numbers in the area. “From the Hellenic Republic: Greece is increasing border security to level maximum,” the message said in English. “Do not attempt illegally to cross the border.”

      Many migrants went ahead anyway, and some succeeded. Many ended up clashing with the authorities in Greece as riot police officers with batons, shields and masks tried to block their path, sometimes firing tear gas.

      Turkey’s interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, wrote Sunday on Twitter that more than 76,000 people had left Turkey for Greece — a drastically inflated number, according to ground reports from both sides of the border.

      The United Nations estimated that about 15,000 people from several countries, including families with children, were on their way in Turkey to the northern land border with Greece.

      Hundreds of people crossed the Turkish border, either over farmland or the Evros River. Nearly 500 others arrived by boat on the islands near Turkey in the northeastern Aegean, creating small-scale scenes reminiscent of the 2015 crisis that paralyzed parts of Europe.

      The Greek government said it had thwarted nearly 10,000 crossing attempts in 24 hours and arrested 150 people over the weekend.

      But dozens of migrants in small groups could be seen scattered in the region’s villages. The Greek government claimed that those attempting to cross into Greece were all single men and that none were Syrians, but families and Syrians did manage to reach Greece.
      Image

      One man with his wife and small children took shelter in a church, trying to warm up and regroup after the arduous crossing.

      Another migrant, Kaniwar Ibrahim, a 26-year-old tailor from Kobane, Syria, said he had heard from friends that Mr. Erdogan was opening the borders to Europe, so he rushed north.

      Mr. Ibrahim, his face ashen and his lips blue from the cold, was planning his next move at the train station in Orestiada with three West Africans and a few Palestinian migrants who had crossed the border with him overnight.

      He had spent two terrible years in Turkey, he said, so he grabbed the chance to join relatives legally settled in Germany.

      On the Turkish side, where thousands were gathering and smugglers were flocking to offer rides, boats and other services, others were less fortunate, and the hazards of attempting the crossing were becoming clear.

      One migrant died from the cold overnight, according to other migrants, and others said they were badly beaten by Greek border guards or vigilantes — an assertion that the Greek government denied.

      Abdul Kareem al Mir, 23, from the city of Al Salamiyah in central Syria, reached Edirne, Turkey, near Greece, but he was already having second thoughts.

      “I’ve been stuck here for three days in the rain and cold,” he said in a series of messages. “I guess the promises and statements were just a lie.”

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/europe/greece-migrants-border-turkey.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesworld

    • Greece freezes asylum applications from illegally entering migrants

      Greece will not accept for a month, beginning Sunday, any asylum applications from migrants entering the country illegally and, where possible, will immediately return them to the country they entered from, Greece’s government spokesman Stelios Petsas announced Sunday.

      The announcement was made at the conclusion of a cabinet meeting on national security.

      Greece will also ask the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, to engage in a rapid border intervention to protect Greece’s borders, which are also EU’s borders, Petsas said.

      The above decisions will be communicated to the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council so that Greece can benefit from temporary measures to face an emergency.

      Petsas said Turkey is violating its commitments from the 2016 EU-Turkey agreement and of becoming itself a trafficker instead of cracking down on them. He called the migrant movement “a sudden, massive, organized and coordinated pressure from population movements in its eastern, land and sea, borders.”

      Charles Michel, President of the European Council, tweeted a few minutes ago:

      “Support for Greek efforts to protect the European borders. Closely monitoring the situation on the ground. I will be visiting the Greek-Turkish border on Tuesday with @PrimeministerGR Mitsotakis.”


      http://www.ekathimerini.com/250097/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-freezes-asylum-applications-from-illegally-entering-migrants

      #procédure_d'asile

    • Griechenland setzt Asylrecht für einen Monat aus

      Der Lage an der griechisch-türkischen Grenze spitzt sich weiter zu: Nun kündigte der griechische Ministerpräsident an, dass sein Land für einen Monat keine neuen Anträge auf Asyl annehmen werde.

      https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/fluechtlinge-griechenland-setzt-asylrecht-fuer-einen-monat-aus-a-14421c7e-80

    • Clashes as thousands gather at Turkish border to enter Greece

      EU border agency Frontex on high alert as Turkish president keeps crossings open.

      Migrants trying to reach Europe have clashed violently with Greek riot police as Turkey claimed more than 76,000 people were now heading for the EU as a result of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to open the Turkish side of the border.

      Officers fired teargas at the migrants, some of whom threw stones and wielded metal bars as they sought to force their way into Greece at the normally quiet crossing in the north-eastern town of Kastanies.

      As the situation escalated, Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, fuelled the anxiety in Greece and Bulgaria, which also shares a border with Turkey, by tweeting on Sunday morning that 76,385 refugees had left his country through Edirne, a province bordering the two EU member states. He provided no evidence pto support the claim.

      The UN’s International Organization for Migration had said earlier in the day that at least 13,000 people had gathered by Saturday evening at the formal border crossing points at Pazarkule and İpsala, among others, in groups of between several dozen and more than 3,000. The majority were said to have been from Afghanistan.

      Greek police confirmed that at least 500 people had arrived by sea on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos near the Turkish coast within a few hours.

      The Greek government said on Sunday evening that it would suspend EU asylum law to implement summary deportations over the next month, a fix allowed within the treaties.

      Earlier in the day the government in Athens had sent a mass text message to all international numbers in the border region appealing for people to stay away. “From the Hellenic Republic: Greece is increasing border security to level maximum,” read the message in English. “Do not attempt illegally to cross the border.”

      The EU’s border protection agency, Frontex, said it was on high alert and had deployed extra support to Greece, as the country’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, held a meeting of his national security council.

      “We … have raised the alert level for all borders with Turkey to high,” a Frontex spokeswoman said. “We have received a request from Greece for additional support. We have already taken steps to redeploy to Greece technical equipment and additional officers.”

      The Greek government accused Turkey of orchestrating a “coordinated and mass” attempt to breach the country’s borders by encouraging thousands of asylum seekers to illegally cross them.

      Mitsotakis said he would visit the land border Greece shares with Turkey along the Evros river alongside Charles Michel, the European Council president, on Tuesday. “Once more, do not attempt to enter Greece illegally – you will be turned back,” Mitsotakis said after the national security council meeting.

      Along the north-eastern mainland border, some people waded across a shallow section of the Evros river to the Greek side. Witnesses said there were groups of up to 30, including an Afghan woman with a five-day-old infant.

      Erdoğan opened his western border after an airstrike on Thursday night in Syria’s Idlib province killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers recently deployed to support the Syrian opposition.

      The deaths came as fighting in north-west Syria between Turkish-backed rebels and Russian-backed Syrian government forces escalated, raising the risk of the two regional powers being brought into direct confrontation.

      The Turkish president had repeatedly said he would break his country’s deal with Brussels to prevent migrants entering the EU unless he received greater support from the 27 member states for his intervention in Syria.

      Erdoğan said in a speech on Saturday that he had no intention of rethinking his decision. “What did we say? If this continues, we will be forced to open the doors,” he told a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development party.

      “They did not believe what we said. What did we do yesterday? We opened our border. The number of people crossing the doors to Europe reached around 18,000 by Saturday morning, but today the number could reach 25 or even 30,000, and we will not close the passages during the period to come.”

      The EU has insisted it expects Ankara to abide by a €6bn (£5.2bn) deal signed in 2016, under which Turkey agreed to halt the flow of people to the EU in return for funds. Turkey hosts about 3.6 million refugees from Syria.

      The European council president, Charles Michel, spoke to Erdoğan on Saturday. “The EU is actively engaged to uphold the EU-Turkey statement and to support Greece and Bulgaria to protect the EU’s external borders,” he said in a statement.

      The Kremlin said on Sunday that it hoped Vladimir Putin and Erdoğan would hold talks in Moscow on Thursday or Friday. Istanbul police released Mahir Boztepe, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish edition of Sputnik, the Russian news website, on Sunday.

      Boztepe had been held for two hours as part of what the Ankara public prosecutor’s office said was an investigation into whether Sputnik had been involved in “degrading the Turkish people, the Turkish state, state institutions” and “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state”.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/thousands-gather-at-turkish-border-to-cross-into-greece#maincontent

    • Migrants : Erdogan ouvre sa frontière, la Grèce la ferme

      Mécontent du manque de soutien de l’UE, le président turc a mis à exécution vendredi sa menace de laisser passer des réfugiés.

      « Yunanistan ! » C’est avec ce cri de ralliement, qui désigne la Grèce en turc, que plusieurs centaines de réfugiés se sont amassés dès vendredi matin le long du fleuve Evros qui marque la frontière terrestre entre la Grèce et la Turquie. Très vite, les autorités grecques ont fermé le principal point de passage situé à Kastanies, alors que le chef d’état-major des armées se précipitait sur place pour annoncer l’arrivée d’hélicoptères et de renforts militaires pour empêcher toute incursion massive. Les menaces d’Erdogan d’ouvrir les vannes des flux migratoires, qui lui permettent depuis cinq ans de souffler le chaud et le froid vis-à-vis de l’Europe, ont donc été mises à exécution. Furieux du peu de soutien de l’Occident après la perte de 33 soldats jeudi en Syrie, Erdogan a joué la pression sur le point faible de l’UE. Et un simple effet d’annonce a suffi pour ressusciter le spectre d’un remake de 2015, lorsque la Grèce, et l’Europe, avaient dû faire face à un afflux massif de réfugiés, considéré comme le plus important mouvement de population depuis 1945.
      Promesse

      Et pour Athènes, cette menace réactualisée ne pouvait tomber à un plus mauvais moment. Alors que la surpopulation des camps de réfugiés sur les îles grecques faisant face à la Turquie a déjà conduit à une situation explosive, cette semaine des affrontements d’une violence inédite ont eu lieu sur les îles de Lesbos et Chios. De véritables batailles rangées entre les forces de l’ordre et les populations locales, qui refusent la construction de nouveaux centres. Longtemps les habitants avaient pourtant fait preuve d’une générosité et d’une patience à toute épreuve. Mais l’inaction des autorités, qui ont laissé les camps se dégrader jusqu’à l’intolérable, et l’indifférence de l’Europe, qui a renié sa promesse de partager le fardeau migratoire, ont fini par provoquer la colère populaire sur les îles. Et c’est dans ce climat toxique que la Turquie fait soudain basculer le fragile dispositif censé contenir les réfugiés aux portes de l’Europe.

      En réalité, le deal conclu en 2016 entre Ankara et l’Union européenne avait dès le départ tout d’un marché de dupes, sacrifiant de facto la Grèce, chargée de jouer les zones tampons en confinant les nouveaux arrivants sur les îles. Or les flux n’ont jamais totalement cessé. Ils sont même repartis à la hausse en 2019, avec plus de 70 000 arrivées depuis les côtes turques, faisant à nouveau de la Grèce la principale porte d’entrée en Europe.

      En comparaison, les mouvements observés dans la journée de vendredi n’avaient rien d’impressionnant dans l’immédiat : quelques centaines de réfugiés regroupés le long de l’Evros, certes, mais seulement deux canots pneumatiques ont accosté dans la journée de vendredi dans le petit port de Skala Sikaminia, dans le nord de Lesbos. Le premier transportait une quinzaine de personnes, le second une cinquantaine. Alors que pour le seul mois de janvier, 3 136 réfugiés avaient débarqué à Lesbos.

      Mais le vrai sujet d’inquiétude est ailleurs. « Le problème, ce n’est pas seulement que la Turquie annonce qu’elle ne surveille plus ses frontières. Ce qui est plus grave, et totalement nouveau, c’est que les autorités turques semblent organiser et encadrer ces départs vers la Grèce », souligne un humanitaire joint à Athènes. Toute la journée de vendredi, les médias turcs ont ainsi relayé les images de réfugiés invités à monter dans des bus, mis spécialement à disposition pour eux, et qui les ont conduits de la périphérie d’Istanbul jusqu’à la frontière grecque. Au même moment, plusieurs chaînes de télévision, dont la version turque de CNN, filmaient d’autres réfugiés se rassemblant sur des plages pour grimper tranquillement dans un canot pneumatique en partance vers la Grèce, comme pour une banale balade en mer. « Du jamais-vu. En 2015, au moins, la Turquie prétendait ne pas voir et ne pas pouvoir contenir les flux en partance vers la Grèce », soulignait vendredi un internaute grec.
      Horizon

      Par ailleurs, la crise syrienne, qui sert de prétexte à la Turquie pour rompre le statu quo migratoire, a pour l’instant motivé non pas les innombrables réfugiés du pays qu’elle accueille à quitter son sol, mais en priorité des Afghans, à l’image de ceux arrivés en canots vendredi à Lesbos. Sur cette île, où se trouvent près de 20 000 réfugiés, nombreux sont ceux qui dans les prochains jours guetteront l’horizon avec inquiétude. Et d’ores et déjà, les habitants ont noté un fait révélateur : vendredi, Athènes comme Bruxelles sont restés très discrets. Comme si les deux principaux interlocuteurs d’Ankara étaient totalement tétanisés. Sans aucune stratégie face à un voisin pourtant notoirement imprévisible.

      https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/02/28/migrants-erdogan-ouvre-sa-frontiere-la-grece-la-ferme_1780087

    • Schreie der Verzweiflung am Grenzzaun

      Rund 15.000 Migranten stehen am türkisch-griechischen Grenzübergang inzwischen den Polizisten gegenüber. Die griechischen Beamten treiben die Geflüchteten mit Tränengas zurück. Premier Mitsotakis bittet um Hilfe von Frontex.

      Die Migranten, die am Samstag durch die Straßen auf der griechischen Seite der Grenze zur Türkei laufen, haben es eilig. „Wir wollen nach Deutschland“, sagt eine Frau aus Algerien. Sie ist mit drei Männern unterwegs, in der Nacht haben sie den Evros überquert, der Fluss markiert die Grenze zwischen Türkei und EU. Ihre Kleidung ist noch nass. Jetzt haben sie Angst, von der griechischen Polizei oder dem Militär festgenommen zu werden. So wie 66 andere Geflüchtete, die es auf griechischen Boden geschafft hatten.

      Der Grenzposten Kastanies ist zum Mittelpunkt eines Kräfteringens zwischen Türkei und Griechenland geworden. Nach SPIEGEL-Informationen schätzen Behörden, dass inzwischen 15.000 Migranten in der Nähe ausharren. Am Samstag versuchten immer wieder Gruppen von Migranten den Grenzzaun zu überwinden, auf Videos sind ihre Schreie der Verzweiflung zu hören. Die griechische Polizei setzte Tränengas ein, um sie daran zu hindern. 4000 Grenzübertritte verhinderte sie nach eigenen Angaben.

      Einige Hundert Migranten wateten durch den Evros, um die griechische Seite zu erreichen. Andere waren in der Pufferzone zwischen dem türkischen und dem griechischen Grenzposten gefangen. Vor ihnen: Stacheldraht und griechische Grenzschützer.

      Der türkische Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan bekräftigte am Samstag in Istanbul noch einmal, was schon am Freitag offensichtlich war: „Wir haben die Tore geöffnet“, sagte er. Es ist das faktische Ende des Flüchtlingsdeals zwischen der Europäischen Union und der Türkei.

      Sein Land könne so viele Flüchtlinge nicht versorgen, sagte Erdogan. Außerdem habe Europa seine Versprechen gebrochen. Die Türkei spricht von 35.000 Migranten, die es bereits nach Europa geschafft hätten. Das ist wohl übertrieben, wahrscheinlich waren es bisher nur ein paar Hundert.

      Erdogan hatte die Anweisung am Donnerstagabend erteilt, nachdem bei Kämpfen in Idlib mindestens 36 türkische Soldaten gestorben waren. Im Syrienkrieg hat er sich in eine Sackgasse manövriert. Wenn er noch eine Chance haben will, die türkische Einflusszone im Norden Syriens zu sichern, braucht er nun amerikanische oder europäische Unterstützung.

      Dass die Europäer sich noch in den schon neun Jahre andauernden Bürgerkrieg einmischen wollen, ist unwahrscheinlich. Mit der Grenzöffnung versucht Erdogan nun, die EU zu Konzessionen zu zwingen.

      https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/tuerkei-schickt-fluechtlinge-nach-europa-schreie-der-verzweiflung-am-grenzza

    • Réfugiés : « La Turquie se sert des Syriens pour faire pression sur l’UE »

      La Turquie a annoncé vendredi qu’elle n’assurait plus le contrôle de ses frontières européennes, ajoutant qu’elle ne souhaitait pas accueillir davantage de réfugiés sur son territoire. Les télévisions turques ont filmé desmilliers de Syriens se mettant en route vers la Grèce. Face au chantage d’Ankara, l’UE craint une nouvelle crise migratoire, comme avant 2016.

      « La Turquie n’est plus en mesure de retenir les réfugiés souhaitant se rendre en Europe », a affirmé vendredi 28 février le porte-parole du Parti de la Justice et du Développement (AKP). Cette déclaration intervient dans un contexte particulier : la nuit précédente, 33 soldats turcs ont été tué dans le bombardement d’un bâtiment dans la région d’Idlib.

      Militairement présente dans cette région, la Turquie soutient les rebelles syriens, alors que Bachar Al-Assad tente de récupérer cet ultime bastion rebelle avec l’aide de la Russie. Ces dernières semaines, il a ainsi reconquis près de la moitié de la province, entraînant des mouvements de population qui tentaient de fuir les bombardements. Au total, depuis décembre 2019, l’offensive du régime de Damas a engendré le déplacement de plus de 900 000 Syriens.

      De son côté, la Turquie, qui accueille sur son territoire 3,6 millions de réfugiés syriens, maintient fermée sa frontière avec la Syrie. Ses frontières européennes, en revanche, ne sont désormais plus contrôlées. « Le pays ne souhaite pas accueillir davantage de réfugiés sur son territoire et, aucune sortie de conflit n’étant en vue à Idlib, elle ouvre ses frontières aux réfugiés et facilite leur passage vers l’UE, ce qui s’appelle du chantage », estime une chercheuse indépendante basée en Turquie, sous couvert d’anonymat.

      « La Turquie se sert de nouveau des Syriens pour faire pression sur l’UE », poursuit-elle. « Certains Syriens sont choqués d’être ainsi utilisés et disent qu’ils ne vont pas être manipulés par les Turcs, alors que d’autres saisissent cette opportunité pour fuir la Turquie où les conditions de vie sont de plus en plus précaires. » Depuis l’annonce d’Ankara, des centaines de réfugiés ont pris la direction de la Bulgarie et de la Grèce. « Beaucoup sont sur le départ, tout le monde veut tenter sa chance. Les gens se rendent à Edirne et dans les ports maritimes. Des bus gratuits sont mis à leur disposition et de plus en plus de bateaux partent. »

      “Ce ne sont pas tant les intérêts des réfugiés qui sont au cœur de la question, mais ceux de la Turquie, ou plutôt ceux de sa classe dirigeante.”

      Cette instrumentalisation de la question migratoire de la part de l’AKP n’est pas nouvelle. « Ce ne sont pas tant les intérêts des réfugiés qui sont au cœur de la question, mais ceux de la Turquie, ou plutôt ceux de sa classe dirigeante », explique Juliette Tolay, professeure de Sciences politiques à l’Université de Penn State Harrisburg. Elle ajoute que le Président turc Recep Tayyip Erdoğan menace régulièrement de rouvrir la frontières turque à des fins diverses : accélérer la libéralisation des visas pour les citoyens turcs, éviter toute critique sur le référendum constitutionnel de 2017 ou obtenir un soutien pour la création d’une zone de sécurité en Syrie.

      Dans un article du New York Times, Matina Stevis-Gridneff et Patrick Kingsley observent que les autorités locales ont acheté plusieurs milliers de billets, qu’elles ont aidé les réfugiés syriens à monter dans des autocars Mercedes et les ont conduits à la frontière. 

Tout cela a été filmé par les médias pro-gouvernement, précisent-ils, tandis que les chaînes de télévision ont retransmis en direct des scènes où l’on voit de familles se dirigeant vers les îles grecques, rappelant la crise de 2015.

      La situation évoque désormais celle précédant l’accord de 2016 entre l’UE et la Turquie, venant ainsi mettre unilatéralement fin à ce traité devenu moribond. Signé avec les 28 États membres de l’UE de l’époque, l’objectif de cet accord était de faire cesser l’arrivée quotidienne des migrants sur les îles grecques. Il prévoyait également, en échange d’un considérable soutien financier, le renvoi systématique de tous les migrants vers la Turquie. 

Le traité n’a pourtant pas empêché l’arrivée de migrants sur les îles de la mer Égée et, depuis cet été, le nombre de réfugiés est en hausse. Alors que les patrouilles turques étaient toujours présentes, certains chercheurs affirmaient que la Turquie laissait délibérément passer les réfugiés.

      Quelques heures après l’annonce de l’AKP, ce vendredi, des réfugiés tentant de se rendre en Grèce par voie terrestre se sont retrouvés coincés dans le no man’s land séparant les deux pays. Renforçant sa sécurité à la frontière de Kastanies, la police grecque a réprimé à coups de gaz lacrymogènes toute tentative de traversée. Le porte-parole du gouvernement Stelios Petsas a indiqué que la Grèce avait empêché 4000 migrants venant de Turquie d’entrer « illégalement » sur le territoire.

      Selon Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, depuis vendredi, 18 000 migrants auraient franchi les frontières de la Turquie pour se rendre en Europe.

      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Turquie-syriens-pression-UE

    • Réfugiés : catastrophe humanitaire en vue sur les frontières de la Grèce

      Depuis vendredi, des milliers de réfugiés tentent de passer la frontière terrestre entre la Turquie et la Grèce, avec le soutien d’Ankara qui joue cette carte pour faire pression sur l’Union européenne. Des réfugiés débarquent aussi sur les îles de la mer Égée, où la tension ne cesse de monter avec la population locale.

      Depuis que la Turquie a annoncé qu’elle n’était « plus en mesure de retenir les réfugiés souhaitant se rendre en Europe », vendredi 28 février, la Grèce est débordée à ses frontières. Au poste de Kastanies, dans la région de l’Evros (nord-est de la Grèce, sur la route d’Edirne), plus de 13 000 migrants sont arrivés durant le week-end depuis Istanbul pour tenter de passer. Un chiffre toutefois « gonflé » par la Turquie, qui utilise les réfugiés pour faire pression sur l’Union européenne. Des chaînes de télévision turques ont même diffusé des cartes du chemin à suivre pour se rendre en Europe...

      Vendredi, la Grèce a doublé ses patrouilles à la frontière terrestre et sur les îles de la mer Egée, face à la Turquie. Des drones ont été déployés à la frontière terrestre pour localiser les réfugiés et les avertir par haut-parleur que la frontière était fermée. Des SMS en anglais ont été envoyés sur tous les téléphones portables étrangers à la frontière : « Personne ne peut traverser les frontières grecques. Tous ceux qui tentent d’entrer illégalement sont dans les faits empêchés d’entrer ». L’agence européenne de contrôle des frontières Frontex a également annoncé avoir « redéployé de l’équipement technique et des agents supplémentaires en Grèce ».

      Les autorités grecques ont déclaré le lendemain avoir empêché « 9972 entrées illégales » dans la région de l’Evros, le long des 212 km de frontière terrestre avec la Turquie. « Personne ne venait d’Idlib, mais la plupart venaient d’Afghanistan, du Pakistan et de Somalie », ont précisé les autorités grecques, dénonçant le « chantage d’Ankara ».

      Dimanche, les autorités grecques ont annoncé avoir arrêté, dans la journée, 5500 migrants tentant de traverser illégalement la frontière. Depuis vendredi, des échauffourées ont lieu entre les forces de l’ordre et les migrants au poste-frontière de Kastanies, où des gaz lacrymogènes ont été tirés. Selon une source gouvernementale grecque, des gaz lacrymogènes auraient aussi été distribués par les autorités turques aux migrants pour les utiliser contre la police grecque. Le Haut-Commissariat aux Réfugiés de l’Onu (HCR) a appelé « au calme et au relâchement des tensions à la frontière ». Mais dimanche, la situation restait tendue : un policier grec a été blessé et transporté à l’hôpital.

      Sur les îles, la tension monte

      Sur les îles grecques, alors que la situation semblait calme vendredi et samedi, au moins 500 migrants ont débarqué dimanche, en raison d’une météo favorable, sur l’île de Lesbos et près de 200 à Chios et Samos, selon l’Agence de presse grecque ANA. Dimanche, les gardes-côtes turcs ne répondaient plus à l’appel de leurs homologues grecs et laissaient passer les embarcations. Alors que le camp de Moria accueille déjà 19 000 personnes dans des conditions sordides et que les habitants de Lesbos s’opposent à la construction de nouveaux camps fermés, la tension a augmenté. Un groupe de personnes a notamment empêché un canot chargé d’environ 50 migrants de descendre à terre en leur criant de rentrer chez eux. Certains insulaires en colère s’en sont également pris aux journalistes, à un représentant du HCR et à des membres d’ONG. D’autres habitants ont bloqué l’accès d’autocars transportant des demandeurs d’asile vers le camp de Moria.

      En rompant de facto l’accord signé avec l’UE en mars 2016 pour lequel elle a perçu six milliards d’euros, et en laissant passer les réfugiés en Europe, la Turquie cherche à obtenir de l’UE et des membres de l’Otan leur soutien dans ses opérations militaires en Syrie. Dimanche, Joseph Borrell, haut-représentant pour les Affaires étrangères européennes, a annoncé la tenue extraordinaire d’un conseil des ministres des Affaires étrangères pour répondre à l’urgence de la situation et soutenir la Grèce et la Bulgarie. Selon son communiqué, « l’accord UE-Turquie doit être maintenu ».

      La procédure d’asile provisoirement suspendue

      En attendant, le Conseil grec de sécurité nationale, convoqué dimanche soir par le Premier ministre, a décidé le renforcement maximal de la garde des frontières orientales, tant terrestres que maritimes. Les forces de l’ordre et l’armée se chargent de refouler les migrants « illégaux » qui essaient d’entrer sur le territoire.

      La procédure d’asile a par ailleurs été suspendue pour une durée d’un mois. Ce qui signifie que ceux qui entrent « illégalement » en Grèce ne pourront pas y déposer une demande d’asile. Ils seront immédiatement expulsés, si possible dans leur pays d’origine, sans procédure préalable d’identification.

      Athènes a également demandé à Frontex de déployer ses unités RABIT pour protéger les frontières du pays, qui sont aussi de frontières de l’UE. Cette décision sera communiqué au Conseil des ministres des Affaires étrangères de l’UE, où la Grèce demandera la mise en application de l’article 78 paragraphe 3 de la Convention européenne, afin que, dans le cadre de la solidarité entre les États membres, des mesures provisoires de protection du territoire soient prises pour faire face à l’urgence.

      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/La-Grece-debordee-par-l-arrivee-de-milliers-de-migrants

    • Réfugiés : la #Bulgarie envoie la gendarmerie à la frontière turque

      La Bulgarie a dépêché vendredi la gendarmerie à sa frontière terrestre et maritime avec la Turquie, le Premier ministre Boïko Borissov évoquant le « danger réel » d’une pression migratoire, suite à la menace d’Ankara de ne plus retenir les candidats au départ.

      La Bulgarie a dépêché vendredi la gendarmerie à sa frontière terrestre et maritime avec la Turquie, le Premier ministre Boïko Borissov évoquant le « danger réel » d’une pression migratoire, suite à la menace d’Ankara de ne plus retenir les candidats au départ.

      M. Borissov s’est notamment inquiété devant des journalistes « du retrait des garde-frontières turcs » et dit attendre un entretien téléphonique avec le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan. « Avec ce qui se passe, le danger est réel en ce moment : les gens fuient face aux missiles », a-t-il déclaré à Sofia, annonçant avoir déployé « tôt ce matin » des renforts.

      La Turquie accueille sur son territoire quelque 3,6 millions de Syriens ayant fui la guerre et craint l’arrivée de nouveaux réfugiés. Un haut responsable turc a assuré vendredi à l’AFP qu’Ankara n’empêchera plus ceux qui essaient de se rendre en Europe de franchir sa frontière, après la mort d’au moins 33 militaires turcs dans la région d’Idleb (nord-ouest de la Syrie) dans des frappes aériennes attribuées par Ankara au régime syrien.

      La Bulgarie partage 259 km de frontière terrestre clôturée avec la Turquie. Elle est membre de l’Union européenne (UE), mais pas de l’espace de libre circulation Schengen.

      En mars 2016, la Turquie et l’UE ont conclu un pacte migratoire qui a fait chuter drastiquement le nombre de passages vers l’Europe. Dans le passé, la Turquie a plusieurs fois menacé d’« ouvrir les portes » de l’Europe aux candidats à l’asile, les observateurs y voyant une manière de faire pression sur Bruxelles.

      https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fil-dactualites/280220/refugies-la-bulgarie-envoie-la-gendarmerie-la-frontiere-turque

    • Violations des droits humains à la frontière gréco-turque : l’Union européenne complice !

      Les expulsions d’exilé·e·s décidées par la Grèce, qui annonce vouloir les renvoyer non seulement vers la Turquie d’Erdogan mais même dans leur pays d’origine, sans aucun examen de leur situation et de leur besoin de protection, sont insupportables.

      La situation à la frontière gréco-turque est la conséquence de la politique de l’Union européenne fondée sur la fermeture des frontières, l’externalisation de l’asile et le marchandage avec des États sans scrupules.

      La xénophobie, le racisme et leur normalisation doivent être combattus partout où ils apparaissent, que ce soit en Turquie, en Grèce ou ailleurs. L’instrumentalisation de la vie des migrants, des demandeurs d’asile et des réfugiés réduite à une menace et à une monnaie d’échange doit cesser, tant dans les campagnes électorales nationales que dans les relations entre le gouvernement turc et l’UE.

      Les politiques de rejet qui poussent des milliers de personnes déjà déplacées dans les limbes et les régimes frontaliers qui provoquent le cycle sans fin de la violence à leur encontre doivent être abandonnées.

      Dans l’immédiat, les États membres doivent assurer la libre entrée des exilé·e·s nassé·e·s à la frontière grecque en attente de protection et de soins et l’UE doit cesser de mobiliser Frontex pour les refouler.

      Ce que nous exigeons, c’est la paix, les droits et libertés fondamentaux de chaque personne en déplacement.

      Les frontières tuent, ouvrez les frontières !
      Arrêtez la guerre contre les réfugié·e·s et les migrant·e·s !
      La solidarité transnationale contre le racisme et la guerre !
      Liberté de circulation et d’installation pour tou·te·s !

      Nous appelons à des rassemblements de protestation partout où ce sera possible, et à Paris ce lundi 2 mars à 18 heures devant la représentation de la Commission européenne, 288, boulevard Saint-Germain, métro Assemblée nationale.

      http://www.migreurop.org/article2957

    • Entre crispation et la solidarité, l’UE en ordre dispersé sur la situation des migrants à la frontière greco-turque

      Tandis que certains pays européens prennent leurs dispositions à la perspective d’un nouvel afflux de migrants, d’autres appellent à la solidarité européenne. L’agence européenne de garde-frontières, Frontex, a déployé des dizaines d’agents en Grèce et réfléchit à muscler davantage ses opérations, à la demande d’Athènes.

      « Après que nous avons ouvert les portes, les coups de téléphone se sont multipliés, ils nous disent ’fermez les portes’. Je leur ai dit : ’C’est fait, c’est fini. Les portes sont désormais ouvertes. Maintenant, vous allez prendre votre part du fardeau’. » Dans un discours prononcé lundi 2 mars à Ankara, le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a sommé l’Europe de prendre ses responsabilités quant aux milliers de migrants massés à la frontière greco-turque depuis vendredi.

      En face, les réactions sont nombreuses, à commencer par la Grèce, première concernée, qui a envoyé l’armée à la frontière et a annoncé la suspension de toute demande d’asile, en vertu de l’article 78.3 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union européenne. En invoquant ce texte, le Premier ministre grec Kyriakos Mitsotakis veut s’assurer d’avoir « le soutien total » des Vingt-sept.

      Celui-ci n’a pas tardé. Dès samedi, la commissaire européenne Ursula von der Leyen avait indiqué que l’Union européenne (UE) observait avec « préoccupation » l’afflux de migrants depuis la Turquie vers ses frontières orientales, en Grèce et en Bulgarie. « Notre première priorité à ce stade est de veiller à ce que la Grèce et la Bulgarie reçoivent notre plein soutien. Nous sommes prêts à fournir un appui supplémentaire, notamment par l’intermédiaire de Frontex (l’agence européenne de garde-frontières) aux frontières terrestres », avait-elle affirmé dans un tweet.

      https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1233828575029186567?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Dimanche, Frontex a répondu présent en déployant des renforts. « Nous (...) avons remonté le niveau d’alerte pour toutes les frontières avec la Turquie à ’élevé’ », a déclaré une porte-parole de l’agence européenne dans un communiqué. « Nous examinons d’autres moyens de soutenir les pays de l’UE frontaliers avec la Turquie », ajoute la porte-parole qui précise que l’agence suivait également de très près la situation à Chypre, un membre de l’UE dont la partie nord est contrôlée par la Turquie mais qui n’est pas reconnue par quiconque sauf Ankara.

      https://twitter.com/Frontex/status/1234075394619400193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Actuellement, la plus grosse opération de Frontex se trouve dans les îles grecques avec 400 personnes sur le terrain, tandis qu’un petit groupe d’agents se trouve dans la région grecque d’Evros, à la frontière turque. Soixante agents sont également déployés en Bulgarie, selon Frontex.

      « Une menace à la stabilité de la région », selon la Bulgarie

      Bien que la frontière bulgare n’a connu aucun mouvement comparable à ceux en cours en Grèce, Sofia a pris les devant. Ainsi, le Premier ministre bulgare Boïko Borissov, dont le pays est voisin de la Turquie, doit rencontrer lundi à Ankara le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan pour discuter de l’aggravation de la situation à Idleb et de l’afflux de migrants aux portes de l’UE.

      Boïko Borissov a déjà prévenu qu’un nouvel afflux de migrants clandestin constituait, selon lui « une menace à la stabilité de la région » alors même que l’Europe « peine à gérer l’épidémie de coronavirus ». La Bulgarie entretient des relations diplomatiques et économiques privilégiées avec son voisin turc. Les deux pays partagent plus de 250 kilomètres de frontière le long de laquelle Sofia a fait installer depuis 2016 une clôture pour bloquer les migrants.

      https://twitter.com/BoykoBorissov/status/1232666456283844608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      La Bulgarie n’est pas la seule à avoir a fait un pas vers Ankara. Recep Tayyip Erdogan a indiqué, lundi, que des responsables européens - sans préciser lesquels - lui avaient proposé de se réunir avec lui pour un sommet « à quatre ou cinq » pays. Il a aussi déclaré avoir eu un entretien téléphonique avec la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel. L’Allemagne, de son côté, affirme que sa chancelière s’est entretenue avec son homologue bulgare et qu’ils ont convenu ensemble qu’il était nécessaire d’ouvrir le dialogue avec Ankara.

      Fidèle à ses positions conservatrices, l’Autriche a prévenu dès dimanche, par la voix de son ministre de l’Intérieur Karl Nehammer, qu’elle empêcherait tous les migrants clandestins d’entrer sur son territoire. Des déclarations qui font écho à celles prononcées en 2015 et 2016 au pic de la crise migratoire, lorsque l’Autriche servait principalement de pays de transit pour des milliers de migrants en provenance des Balkans qui souhaitaient atteindre l’Allemagne. « La Hongrie nous a assuré qu’elle ferait tout pour protéger ses frontières, tout comme la Croatie. Mais si des migrants arrivent quand même à passer, nous les stopperons », a expliqué Karl Nehammer qui se dit prêt à réinstaurer d’importants contrôles aux frontières comme ce fut le cas en 2015-2016.

      « La Hongrie n’ouvrira ou ne laissera passer personne », a déclaré pour sa part Gyorgy Bakondi, conseiller du Premier ministre nationaliste Viktor Orban. Des renforts policiers et militaires ont été envoyés aux frontières du pays qui avait vu, lui aussi, transiter des dizaines de milliers d’exilés en 2015-2016.

      Autre pays de transit, la Macédoine du nord qui voit le nombre de migrants à sa frontière en augmentation ces derniers mois, se dit prête à faire face à un nouvel afflux. Sa position est de demeurer « un pays de transit » en n’autorisant les migrants à rester sur le sol macédonien que 72 heures, a rappelé lundi le Premier ministre Oliver Spasovski. Se voulant rassurant, celui-ci affirme que la situation est sous contrôle et que la communication avec la Grèce à cet égard était fluide.

      https://denesen.mk/spasovski-nema-da-ima-nov-migrantski-bran-kje-prodolzi-dogovorot-pomegju-eu-

      « Nous devons agir ensemble pour éviter une crise humanitaire et migratoire », dit Paris

      Le président français Emmanuel Macron assure, de son côté, que « la France est prête à contribuer aux efforts européens pour prêter [à la Grèce et à la Bulgarie] une assistance rapide et protéger les frontières. » Et le dirigeant français d’appeler à la solidarité de tous : « Nous devons agir ensemble pour éviter une crise humanitaire et migratoire », a-t-il lancé dans un tweet.

      https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1234233225700048900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Même discours d’appel à la solidarité pour la Croatie, située sur la route migratoire des Balkans et qui a récemment pris pour six mois la présidence tournante de l’UE : « La Croatie se tient aux côtés de la Grèce et la Bulgarie pour protéger les frontières de l’Europe. Nous exprimons notre pleine solidarité et nous tenons prêts à intervenir si besoin », a déclaré le gouvernement croate sur Twitter.

      https://twitter.com/MVEP_hr/status/1234134767328747529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Reste que l’UE n’a jamais réussi à parler d’une seule voix depuis le début de la crise migratoire en 2015. Bruxelles appelle à une réunion d’urgence des ministres européens des Affaires étrangères afin de décider des prochaines étapes dans cette affaire. Le président du Conseil européen Charles Michel se rendra dans la région d’Evros à la frontière turque mardi aux côtés du Premier ministre grec Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

      https://twitter.com/eucopresident/status/1234188948735430656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12
      Les Nations unies ont appelé dimanche au calme et à la retenue : « Les États ont certes le droit légitime de contrôler leurs frontières et de gérer les mouvements irréguliers, mais ils devraient se retenir d’user d’une force excessive et disproportionnée et mettre en place un système permettant de faire une demande d’asile de manière ordonnée », a écrit un porte-parole du Haut commissariat aux réfugiés (HCR), Babar Baloch, dans un email à l’AFP. Le HCR appelle également les demandeurs d’asile à « respecter la loi et se retenir de créer des situations perturbant l’ordre public et la sécurité aux frontières et ailleurs ».

      La Turquie accueille sur son sol plus de quatre millions de réfugiés et migrants, en majorité des Syriens, et affirme qu’elle ne pourra pas faire face seule à un nouvel afflux, alors que près d’un million de personnes fuyant les violences à Idleb sont massées à sa frontière. L’Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM) a annoncé samedi soir que quelque 13 000 migrants s’étaient amassés à la frontière gréco-turque, dont des familles avec de jeunes enfants qui ont passé la nuit dans le froid. Environ 2 000 personnes supplémentaires sont arrivées au poste-frontière de Pazarkule (Turquie) dimanche, dont des Afghans, des Syriens et des Irakiens, a constaté un journaliste de l’AFP.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/23128/entre-crispation-et-la-solidarite-l-ue-en-ordre-disperse-sur-la-situat

    • Le quotidien grec Efimerida tôn Syntaktôn a publié le communiqué de l’armée qui dit en somme que le 4ième corps de l’Armée fera un exercice avec des tirs à balles réelles à diverses région frontalières dont la forêt de Kastanies et l’endroit dit Gefyra Koipôn (Pont des Jardins) :
      Βολές με πραγματικά πυρά στον Έβρο την Καθαρά Δευτέρα

      Ξεκάθαρο μήνυμα με συγκεκριμένους αποδέκτες έστειλαν οι ελληνικές ένοπλες δυνάμεις, το βράδυ της Κυριακής, ανακοινώνοντας πως το Δ’ Σώμα Στρατού θα προχωρήσει σε βολές με πραγματικά πυρά, την Καθαρά Δευτέρα, 2 Μαρτίου καθ΄ όλη τη διάρκεια του 24ώρου στην περιοχή του Έβρου.

      Η ανακοίνωση γίνεται τη στιγμή που χιλιάδες πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες βρίσκονται στα ελληνοτουρκικά σύνορα και επιδιώκουν να εισέλθουν σε ελληνικό έδαφος, και ενώ το ΚΥΣΕΑ αποφάσισε (μεταξύ άλλων) την « αναβάθμιση σε μέγιστο επίπεδο των μέτρων φύλαξης των ανατολικών, χερσαίων και θαλάσσιων, συνόρων της χώρας από τα σώματα ασφαλείας και τις ένοπλες δυνάμεις για την αποτροπή παράνομων εισόδων στη χώρα ».

      Επίσης, στην ανακοίνωση γίνεται σαφής αναφορά για βολές « ευθυτενούς τροχιάς με πολυβόλα, τυφέκια και πιστόλια με πραγματικά πυρά », ενώ υπάρχει ξεκάθαρη προειδοποίηση πως « απαγορεύεται κάθε κίνηση ή παραμονή ατόμων... για αποφυγή ατυχημάτων ».

      Η ανακοίνωση

      Το Δ΄ ΣΩΜΑ ΣΤΡΑΤΟΥ ανακοινώνει ότι, από την 02 Μαρτίου 2020 και καθόλη τη διάρκεια του 24ώρου, θα εκτελούνται βολές ευθυτενούς τροχιάς με πολυβόλα, τυφέκια και πιστόλια με πραγματικά πυρά, σε όλη την παρέβρια περιοχή όπως παρακάτω :

      Επικίνδυνες περιοχές είναι αυτές , που περικλείονται από τα σημεία : α. ΕΦ Διλόφου – Λυκόνησος – Μουσμουλιές – ΕΦ Μαρασίων .β. ΕΦ Μαρασίων -Δάσος Καστανιών – ΕΦ 1- Περιοχή αποτρεπτικού εμποδίου- ΕΦ 5 – Πράσινη Πόρτα.γ. Πράσινη Πόρτα- ΕΦ 10- ΕΦ Γέφυρας Πυθίου.δ. ΕΦ Γέφυρας Πυθίου -ΕΦ Μαύρου Όγκου- ΕΦ 126- ΕΦ Σουφλίου-ΕΦΜανίτσας.ε. ΕΦ Μανίτσας -ΕΦ. Πλαγιές- Περιοχή Τυχερού- ΕΦ Γεμιστής- ΕΦ ΓέφυραΚήπων- ΕΦ Πετάλου- Αινήσιο Δέλτα.

      Στις παραπάνω περιοχές απαγορεύεται κάθε κίνηση ή παραμονή ατόμων, τροχοφόρων και ζώων κατά τις ώρες των βολών, για αποφυγή ατυχημάτων.

      Βλήματα μη εκραγέντα, που τυχόν θα βρεθούν, να μη μετακινηθούν και να ειδοποιείται άμεσα η πλησιέστερη Αστυνομική Αρχή.

      https://www.efsyn.gr/node/233421

    • Βολές με πραγματικά πυρά σε Έβρο και νησιά

      Βολές με πραγματικά πυρά, την Καθαρά Δευτέρα, καθ΄ όλη τη διάρκεια του 24ώρου στην περιοχή του Έβρου και σε περιοχές των νησιών του ανατολικού Αιγαίου ανακοίνωσε το Δ’ Σώμα Στρατού και η Ανώτατη Στρατιωτική Διοίκηση Εσωτερικού και Νήσων (ΑΣΔΕΝ).

      Οι ανακοινώσεις γίνονται τη στιγμή που πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες βρίσκονται στα ελληνοτουρκικά σύνορα (χερσαία και θαλάσσια) και επιδιώκουν να εισέλθουν σε ελληνικό έδαφος.

      Σύμφωνα με πηγές του στρατού, καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια του 24ώρου, θα εκτελούνται βολές (Έβρος) « ευθυτενούς τροχιάς με πολυβόλα, τυφέκια και πιστόλια με πραγματικά πυρά », ενώ υπάρχει ξεκάθαρη προειδοποίηση πως « απαγορεύεται κάθε κίνηση ή παραμονή ατόμων... για αποφυγή ατυχημάτων ».

      Στα νησιά, η ΑΣΔΕΝ ανακοίνωσε βολές « ευθυτενούς τροχιάς » στις θαλάσσιες περιοχές ανατολικά των νησιών του ανατολικού Αιγαίου από τη νήσο Σαμοθράκη μέχρι Μεγίστη.

      Στο μεταξύ, στη Λέσβο βρίσκεται εκτάκτως ο υφυπουργός Εθνικής Άμυνας, Αλκιβιάδης Στεφανής, προκειμένου να δει από κοντά την κατάσταση που έχει δημιουργηθεί.


      https://www.efsyn.gr/node/233432

    • Πρωτοφανής ποινικοποίηση της αίτησης ασύλου

      Σε ευθεία και κατάφωρη παραβίαση των διεθνών και ελληνικών νόμων περί ασύλου έχει προβεί η κυβέρνηση της Νέας Δημοκρατίας, με αφορμή τα γεγονότα που εξελίσσονται τις τελευταίες ημέρες στα ελληνοτουρκικά σύνορα.

      Εκτός, λοιπόν, από την αναστολή που αποφάσισε χθες (Κυριακή) το ΚΥΣΕΑ για την υποβολή των αιτήσεων ασύλου —ενέργεια για την οποία ήδη έχει εκφράσει την αντίθεσή της η Ύπατη Αρμοστεία του ΟΗΕ— η κυβέρνηση προχώρησε σε δίκη και καταδίκη των ανθρώπων που εισέρχονται παράνομα σε ελληνικό έδαφος.

      Όπως ανακοινώθηκε από την κυβέρνηση, σήμερα (Καθαρά Δευτέρα) πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες δικάστηκαν και καταδικάστηκαν σε τέσσερα έτη φυλάκισης, χωρίς αναστολή και 10.000 ευρώ χρηματική ποινή έκαστος. Μάλιστα, οι καταδικασθέντες μεταφέρθηκαν σε καταστήματα κράτησης.

      Μέχρι στιγμής δεν έχει γίνει γνωστός ο αριθμός των ανθρώπων που έχουν οδηγηθεί στις φυλακές. Πάντως, από τις 6 το πρωί του Σαββάτου ως τις 6 το απόγευμα της Καθαράς Δευτέρας, έχουν συλληφθεί 183 άτομα.

      Σημειώνεται πως ο ελληνικός νόμος 4636/2019 για τη διεθνή προστασία (άρθρο 46) που εφαρμόζει τις ευρωπαϊκές οδηγίες (άρθρα 8 και 9 Οδηγίας 2013/33/ΕΕ) είναι σαφής, όπως καταγράφεται παρακάτω :

      Σε κάθε περίπτωση, οι δίκες και οι καταδίκες προσφύγων και μεταναστών διαφοροποιούν εντελώς τη μέχρι στιγμής πολιτική των ελληνικών κυβερνήσεων, που ήταν να μην προχωρούν σε διώξεις ανθρώπων που θεωρείται ότι ανήκουν σε ευάλωτες ομάδες. Υπενθυμίζεται πως μέχρι σήμερα, οι διώξεις αφορούσαν μόνο τους διακινητές προσφύγων και μεταναστών.

      Σημειώνεται ότι σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες από τα νησιά, ο υπουργός Μετανάστευσης και Ασύλου ενημέρωσε σήμερα τη δημοτική αρχή Χίου ότι έχουν παραχωρηθεί δημοτικό κτήριο στην οδό Λάδης και χώρος στα Καρδάμυλα, όπου θα κρατούνται οι νεοεισερχόμενοι και θα μεταφέρονται μέσα σε τρεις μέρες σε κλειστές δομές της ενδοχώρας.

      https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/233470_protofanis-poinikopoiisi-tis-aitisis-asyloy

      –-> Commentaire de Vicky Skoumbi :

      Criminalisation sans précédent de la demande d’asile

      D’après le quotidien grec Efimerida tôn Syntatktôn, le gouvernement grec ne s’est pas contenté de suspendre la procédure d’asile pour les nouveaux arrivants- suspension contre laquelle l’HCR a exprimé son opposition- mais il franchit un nouveau seuil dans la repression en procédant à des jugements et des condamnations de ceux qui entrent ‘illégalement’ dans le territoire grec. Le gouvernement a annoncé qu’aujourd’hui des réfugiés et des migrants ont été jugés dans un procès sans doute plus qu’expéditif, et condamnés à quatre ans de détention sans sursis et à 10.000 euros d’amende chacun. Les personnes ayant écopés ces peines ahurissantes ont été déjà transférées à des prisons. Pour l’instant on ignore combien furent condamnés. Toutefois on sait du samedi matin jusqu’à cet après-midi, 183 personnes ont été arrêtées à la frontière.

      Ces faits et gestes constituent une flagrante violation de la législation grecque, car selon la loi grecque 4636/2019 / article 46, pour la protection international, et conformément aux directives européennes (articles 8 et 9 de la directive 2013/33/UE, un ressortissant d’un pays tiers, demandeur d’asile, ne peut pas être détenu du fait qu’il est entré d’une façon irrégulière au pays, ou bien du fait qu’il y séjourne sans autorisation des autorités.

      Le Ministre de l’Immigration et de l’asile, aurait informé les autorités municipales de Chios qu’un immeuble municipal sera transformé en lieu de détention et les arrivants y seront détenus pour trois jours après lesquels ils seront transférés à des centres fermés de la Grèce continentale.

    • Commission pledges border guards, aid to Greece to tackle migrant surge

      The European Commission presented on Wednesday a six-point action plan to support Greece for border policing, that includes financial aid and beefing up #Frontex patrols in the Aegean and Evros, the northeastern border with Turkey.

      More than 10,000 migrants have been trying to breach the Greek border with Turkey after Ankara said last Thursday it would no longer try to halt illegal migration flows to Europe.

      “Greece faces an incredibly challenging situation, one that is completely unprecedented and this difficult task cannot fall on Greece alone. It is the responsibility of the whole of Europe,” Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said in a joint press conference with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson in Brussels.

      Presenting the plan, Schinas said Frontex would launch two rapid border operations both on the land and sea border, that will include an additional 100 border guards and equipment.

      Frontex, the EU’s border control agency, is also preparing the deployment of one offshore patrol vessel, six coastal patrol vessels, two helicopters, one aircraft and three thermo-vision vehicles.

      Schinas said the Commission has also asked Frontex to coordinate a new return program for the quick return of “persons without the right to stay” to their countries of origin from Greece, making use of Frontex’s new mandate on returns.

      The EU will provide immediate financial assistance of 350 million euros to support increased reception capacity on the five Greek islands receiving the bulk of migrants, voluntary returns of migrants, and all the infrastructure needed to carry out screening procedures for health and security on the islands.

      The Commission will in addition propose an amended budget to make available a further 350 million euros, if needed.

      On Greece’s request the Commission also launched the civil protection mechanism through which Greece can receive additional medical staff and equipment, blankets and tents, Schinas added.

      At the same time, the EU agency for refugees, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), will accelerate the deployment of an additional number of around 160 case workers in Greece to support the process of asylum applications.

      The Commissioner also said the EU aims to strengthen regional cooperation by developing a coordinating mechanism with countries in the Western Balkan countries on migration.

      The plan will be introduced before the extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Office Ministers who will meet later on Wednesday.

      http://www.ekathimerini.com/250222/article/ekathimerini/news/commission-pledges-border-guards-aid-to-greece-to-tackle-migrant-surge

    • Ankara déploie un millier de policiers à la frontière avec la Grèce

      La Turquie a annoncé jeudi que 1 000 policiers « pleinement équipés » allaient être déployés à la frontière avec la Grèce. Ankara espère ainsi « empêcher » Athènes de « repousser » les migrants qui tentent d’entrer sur son territoire depuis près d’une semaine.

      Le bras de fer entre la Grèce et la Turquie continue à la frontière entre ces deux pays. Ankara a annoncé, jeudi 5 mars, le déploiement d’un millier de policiers, « pleinement équipés », le long du fleuve frontalier Evros (Meriç en turc) afin « d’empêcher » Athènes de « repousser » les migrants qui essayent de pénétrer sur son sol.

      La semaine dernière, la Turquie a ouvert ses frontières avec la Grèce pour laisser passer les migrants déjà présents sur son territoire. Depuis cette annonce, des dizaines de milliers de personnes se sont massées le long de la frontière terrestre entre la Turquie et la Grèce, essayant de passer par des postes frontaliers ou en traversant le fleuve. Certains ont fini par renoncer, comme l’a confié à InfoMigrants Khaled, un Palestinien reparti à Istanbul après avoir tenté en vain de rentrer sur le territoire grec.
      35 000 migrants empêchés d’entrer en Grèce

      Une guerre de communication fait rage entre les deux pays voisins. Athènes a annoncé avoir empêché ces derniers jours près de 35 000 migrants d’entrer « illégalement » sur son territoire. La Turquie accuse de son côté la Grèce d’avoir tué plusieurs migrants, ce qu’Athènes a démenti, rejetant des « fausses informations ». De plus, selon le ministre turc de l’Intérieur, Süleyman Soylu, les forces de sécurité grecques ont « blessé 164 personnes et tenté d’en repousser 4 900 sur le territoire turc ».

      Des migrants présents à la frontière et rencontrés par une équipe d’InfoMigrants sur place ont en effet expliqué avoir été repoussés par les Grecs « violemment ». Ils « utilisent du gaz lacrymogène et des grenades assourdissantes. L’un de mes camarades a même dû aller se faire soigner à l’hôpital pour une blessure reçue au bras », a déclaré Mounir, un migrant marocain.

      L’Union européenne a qualifié de « chantage » la décision prise par Ankara d’ouvrir ses frontières, au moment où la Turquie est en quête d’un appui occidental en Syrie.

      L’afflux de migrants vers la Grèce a réveillé en Europe la crainte d’une nouvelle crise migratoire semblable à celle qui a secoué le continent en 2015.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/23219/ankara-deploie-un-millier-de-policiers-a-la-frontiere-avec-la-grece
      #militarisation_des_frontières #police

      Localisation de #Pazarkule :


      –-> ce #poste-frontière se trouve dans le #triangle_de_Karaagac, un territoire attribué à la Grèce en 1923 par le traité de Lausanne et permettant au fleuve Evros de faire une incursion dans le territoire turc (https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile), soit là où la Grèce a construit un #mur en 2012...

    • La Grèce veut « renvoyer dans leurs pays » les migrants arrivés après le 1er mars

      Le ministre grec chargé des migrations a annoncé mercredi que les migrants arrivés sur les îles grecques depuis le 1er mars seraient transférés vers la ville de Serres, dans le nord du pays, au cours des prochains jours. « Notre objectif est de les ramener dans leurs pays », a-t-il affirmé.

      Les migrants qui sont arrivés illégalement en Grèce après le 1er mars 2020 seront transférés vers la ville de Serres, située dans le nord du pays, a annoncé le ministre chargé des migrations, Notis Mitarachi dans la soirée du 4 mars. Les autorités grecques prévoient, dans un second temps, de renvoyer ces nouveaux arrivants vers leurs différents pays d’origine.

      « Notre objectif est de les ramener dans leurs pays », a affirmé Notis Mitarachi à l’agence de presse Athens News. Il a par ailleurs ajouté que les personnes entrées dans le pays avant le 1er janvier 2019 et vivant sur les îles grecques seraient transférées sur le continent dans les prochains jours.

      Le 1er mars, la Grèce avait déjà annoncé qu’elle n’accepterait plus de nouvelles demandes d’asile pendant un mois.

      Suite à l’ouverture des frontières turques la semaine dernière, plusieurs centaines de migrants ont réussi à entrer illégalement en Grèce, la plupart en rejoignant les îles via la mer. Selon le gouvernement grec, près de 7 000 tentatives d’entrées illégales ont été empêchées en 24 heures dans la région et une vingtaine de migrants y ont été arrêtés, surtout originaires d’Afghanistan et du Pakistan, entre mercredi matin et jeudi matin.

      La Turquie, qui accueille déjà 3,7 millions de réfugiés syriens, a annoncé le 28 février qu’elle se désengageait d’un accord conclu en 2016 avec l’Union européenne et qu’elle n’empêcherait plus les migrants de quitter son territoire. Une manière de faire pression sur Bruxelles et d’obtenir soit davantage de moyens financiers pour prendre en charge les migrants, soit un soutien diplomatique à ses visées géopolitiques dans le conflit syrien, accusent la Grèce et l’Union européenne.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/23230/la-grece-veut-renvoyer-dans-leurs-pays-les-migrants-arrives-apres-le-1
      #01_mars_2020

    • Migrants : la Grèce accusée de recourir à la manière forte

      Refoulement en Turquie, utilisation de gaz lacrymogènes, confiscation de biens : la Grèce est accusée de recourir à la manière forte avec les migrants qui tentent d’entrer en Europe, et Ankara lui attribue même la mort de trois personnes.

      « Des soldats grecs (...) nous ont pris notre argent, nos téléphones. Il est arrivé la même chose à nos amis », raconte Resul,un jeune Afghan, rencontré par l’AFP le long de la longue frontière terrestre qui sépare la Turquie et la Grèce sur plus de 200 km.

      D’autres candidats malheureux à l’exil rencontrés sur les routes affirment qu’ils ont été rossés par les forces de l’ordre grecques, déjà montrées du doigt pour avoir utilisé des gaz lacrymogènes aux ogives potentiellement mortelles en cas de tir tendu sur une personne.

      Depuis que le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a ordonné l’ouverture des frontières pour laisser passer les migrants désireux de se rendre dans l’Union européenne, Athènes a complètement fermé sa frontière terrestre tout en déployant des forces le long du fleuve Evros.

      Les pratiques présumées de « push-back », qui consistent à repousser les personnes qui voudraient entrer sur un territoire sont dénoncées par plusieurs organisations internationales et des ONG, qui reprochent également au gouvernement grec de contrevenir au droit international et européen en décidant de suspendre les demandes d’asile pendant un mois.
      Etat de siège

      De source gouvernementale grecque, on assure qu’"il n’y a pas de refoulements". Le gouvernement « empêche l’entrée (sur son territoire ndlr), c’est tout à fait différent », a déclaré cette source à l’AFP.

      Parmi les mesures décidées par le conseil gouvernemental de sécurité nationale détaillées dans un acte législatif, figurent « l’arrestation, le transfert dans des centres de détention et le retour immédiat, si c’est possible dans leur pays d’origine, de tous ceux qui entrent illégalement dans le territoire grec ».

      « Le principe fondamental de non-refoulement » stipule que « personne ne peut être renvoyé dans un pays où sa vie ou sa liberté seraient en péril », a souligné mardi Stella Nanou, la responsable de l’Agence des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) en Grèce, lors d’une visite au poste-frontière de Kastanies (Pazarkule côté turc).

      L’ONG allemande de défense des droits des réfugiés Pro Asyl a elle aussi tancé les autorités grecques, jugeant « illégaux » les renvois vers la Turquie « sans que les procédures d’asile n’aient été enclenchées ».

      A la frontière, la région reculée de terres agricoles et de villages assoupis offre le spectacle d’une zone en état de siège : camions militaires et véhicules de police quadrillent la zone du nord au sud et d’est en ouest.

      La Turquie accuse aussi les gardes-frontières grecs d’avoir tué trois migrants lors de heurts à la frontière, ce qu’Athènes a fermement démenti, rejetant des « fausses informations ».
      Chaussures et téléphones portables

      Des journalistes de l’AFP ont vu le long de la frontière des soldats grecs cagoulés embarquant des migrants dans des véhicules militaires. Certains réfugiés se trouvaient aussi à bord de fourgonnettes sans plaques d’immatriculation.

      Les policiers et les militaires ont systématiquement refusé d’indiquer la destination de ces personnes interpellées.

      « On les livre à la justice pour entrée illégale sur le territoire », se contente d’indiquer à l’AFP un policier qui refuse de décliner son identité, à Tychero, un bourg collé à la frontière.

      Des forces de l’ordre grecques sont également soupçonnées d’avoir dépouillé des réfugiés de leurs effets personnels.

      A Tychero, des paires de chaussures souillées de boue sont entassées à côté de l’entrée du poste de police, ainsi que des téléphones portables. De l’autre côté de la frontière, des migrants marchent pieds nus et affirment que les policiers grecs leur ont pris leurs chaussures.

      Quand ils parviennent à entrer en Grèce, les migrants sont livrés à eux-mêmes. A la différence des îles de la mer Egée, aucune organisation humanitaire n’est déployée dans cette vaste région.

      https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/migrants-la-grece-accusee-de-recourir-a-la-maniere-forte-05-03-2020-2365952_

    • La Grèce veut dissuader les exilés de franchir ses frontières

      Depuis l’annonce d’Ankara concernant l’ouverture de la frontière, la Grèce et la Turquie mènent une véritable bataille de la communication : bataille de chiffres, accusations d’exactions, dénonciations de propagande. Côté grec, le ton redouble de fermeté.

      Lesbos (Grèce), de notre envoyée spéciale.– Les rafales de vent fouettent les visages sur le port bétonné de Mytilène, à Lesbos. Les côtes turques, à une dizaine de kilomètres, sont noyées dans la brume ce mercredi.

      Derrière des barrières gardées par des policiers, ils sont près de 560 migrants, majoritairement venus d’Afghanistan et de pays d’Afrique. Depuis des heures, ils guettent l’arrivée d’un bateau qui viendrait les extirper de l’île grecque.

      Peu d’informations circulent sur ces passagers, ce matin-là. Les quelques journalistes autorisés à observer cette scène sous haute surveillance n’ont pas le droit de leur parler. « Pour éviter tout mouvement de foule », explique d’un ton ferme un policier.

      On sait seulement que ces migrants en quête d’Europe sont les derniers à avoir accosté à Lesbos. Ils ont pris la mer à bord d’une dizaine de bateaux pneumatiques depuis la Turquie les 1er, 2 et 3 mars, encouragés par l’annonce de l’ouverture de la frontière par Ankara.

      Isolés dès leur arrivée, les réfugiés n’ont pas fait escale dans le camp surchargé de l’île, Moria, où s’entassent déjà 20 000 migrants dans l’attente de leur traitement d’asile.

      L’imposante frégate militaire s’approche du port en fin de matinée. Elle amarre. Elle devrait embarquer les réfugiés puis prendre le chemin de Serres dans le nord de la Grèce. Mais là-bas, la colère des habitants gronde déjà contre leur venue. Les réfugiés ne le savent pas encore, mais Serres ne sera peut-être qu’une escale.

      « Notre but est de les renvoyer dans leur pays », a révélé le ministre de l’immigration, Notis Mitarachi à l’agence Reuters mercredi, en évoquant l’ensemble des quelque 1 500 exilés arrivés sur les îles depuis le 1er mars.

      Le sort de ces passagers illustre la politique de dissuasion voulue par la Grèce, qui qualifie d’« invasion » et de « menace asymétrique » le déplacement de migrants à ses portes depuis l’annonce par Ankara de l’ouverture de cette frontière, jeudi 27 février. Le message se veut clair. Il n’y aura pas d’accueil pour les nouveaux exilés dans ce pays redevenu en 2019 la première porte d’entrée de l’Europe pour les demandeurs d’asile, qui peine à traiter les quelque 60 000 requêtes déjà en cours.

      La campagne de communication du gouvernement grec a commencé dès vendredi par l’envoi de renforts de police et de l’armée à sa frontière terrestre, dans le nord-est, dans le nome de l’Évros. Il faut dissuader les 12 000 migrants massés du côté turc de la frontière.

      Les images de l’afflux de soldats, puis du chef d’état-major grec et du ministre de la protection du citoyen, Michalis Chryssochoidis, en visite ce jour-là dans la ville-frontière de Kastanies, ont fait le tour des télévisions grecques. La tournée de ces hauts responsables a pour objectif d’envoyer un message fort. « La Grèce est un pays sûr. La Grèce protège les frontières », martèle le ministre.

      La frontière grecque est bien fermée : ce refrain est aussi repris par le premier ministre conservateur Kyriakos Mitsotákis. Le 1er mars, il annonçait également la suspension, à compter de cette date, du dépôt des demandes d’asile pour toutes les personnes arrivées illégalement en Grèce. Une décision illégale, dénoncent de nombreuses ONG, et contraire au droit international selon le Haut-Commissariat aux réfugiés (HCR).

      Les autorités grecques, qui dénoncent un « chantage » d’Ankara, ont également annoncé le renvoi systématique des migrants vers leurs pays, la demande de déploiement de la force de réaction rapide (Rabit) de la force européenne Frontex à sa frontière puis le soutien de l’UE « par tous les moyens possibles ».

      Kostas Moutzouris, gouverneur local des îles du nord de l’Égée, assume ce qu’il qualifie de politique de « dissuasion » du gouvernement grec. Droit dans son bureau qui surplombe le port de Mytilène, l’homme populaire à Lesbos précise lui aussi « qu’il faut décourager ces gens de venir ».

      « Les habitants ici étaient solidaires, mais ils n’en peuvent plus, il y a trop de monde », insiste le politicien de droite. « [Le président turc] Erdogan fait de la propagande de l’autre côté, il incite les migrants à venir jusqu’aux frontières depuis Constantinople [Istanbul – ndlr] et d’autres villes du pays. Ils sont pour l’instant dans le nord de la Grèce, à l’Évros, mais comme ils ne peuvent pas passer, ils commenceront à descendre vers la frontière maritime face aux îles », croit-il.

      Les deux pays se livrent une guerre de communication. Les autorités grecques accusent Ankara d’inciter les migrants à venir et de les escorter jusqu’aux eaux grecques. « Le transport [de migrants] est organisé gratuitement jusqu’à la frontière, accompagnés par l’armée turque », a expliqué mercredi 4 mars le porte-parole du gouvernement grec, Stelios Petsas, au cours d’un point presse.

      Il affirme que « des SMS [sont] reçus par les migrants sur leurs téléphones portables au sujet des frontières prétendument ouvertes… [que] la télévision d’État turque […] a diffusé une carte avec des itinéraires vers la région d’Évros et la côte ». De son côté, Ankara nie et affirme qu’Athènes tire à balles réelles sur les réfugiés aux frontières terrestre et maritime. La Grèce dément.

      Une vidéo datant de début mars a fait le tour des réseaux sociaux, relayée par les autorités turques. On y voit un bateau pneumatique de migrants en mer Égée, et une vedette qui fonce à toute vitesse faisant tanguer le zodiac. On y entend les cris des passagers apeurés, puis des tirs de sommation, visant à repousser l’embarcation, au large de Lesbos, d’après Ankara.

      « J’ignore si ce contenu est authentique, avoue Kostas Moutzouris. Mais si c’est avéré, cela ne me paraît pas étrange : il faut dissuader les gens de venir, ces hommes [garde-côtes – ndlr] ne tirent pas sur les réfugiés, mais en l’air pour les dissuader. Les migrants ne doivent pas passer et les militaires grecs feront tout pour qu’ils ne viennent pas. »

      Mercredi 4 mars, des heurts entre migrants et forces de l’ordre grecques à la frontière terrestre ont aussi fait six blessés en raison de « tirs à balles réelles », affirme le gouvernement local turc, qui précisait qu’un migrant était mort de ses blessures.

      Mohamed Al Arab avait 22 ans et était originaire d’Alep, rapporte Le Parisien. Le gouvernement grec, lui, « dément catégoriquement » ces tirs. « La police grecque n’a pas tiré, maintient M. Moutzouris, mais malheureusement cela ne serait pas surprenant que la situation dérape. »

      Une enquête vidéo (visible ci-dessous en anglais) de Forensic Architecture – laboratoire d’investigation pluridisciplinaire avec qui Mediapart a déjà travaillé – sur le meurtre de #Mohamed_Al_Arab contredit la version des autorités grecques.

      https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/050320/la-grece-veut-dissuader-les-exiles-de-franchir-ses-frontieres

    • #Forensic_Architecture releases video confirming murder of Syrian refugee on Greek border

      London-based research group Forensic Architecture has released an investigative video yesterday debunking Greek government’s claims of fake news over the killing of Syrian refugee #Muhammad_al-Arab by Greek fire on the country’s land border with Turkey.

      Twenty-two-year-old al-Arab’s murder was first reported by journalist Jenan Moussa on 02 March on Twitter. Moussa shared videos of the incident and managed to track down al-Arab’s family in Istanbul, who confirmed his death. Greek government spokesperson Stelios Petsas immediately tweeted that the reports were fake news and “Turkish propaganda”, to which Moussa responded with a photo of al-Arab’s coffin.

      Reuters and other international media picked up the story of al-Arab’s death by Greek fire on the border, but local media’s silence on the issue has been deafening. For two days it was unclear whether a killing had actually taken place, with the government repeatedly denouncing reports as inaccurate.

      Last night, Forensic Architecture released a video of their research on al-Arab’s killing. The video confirms the time, date and location of videos shot by witnesses during the incident, using video metadata and comparing video footage with satellite images of the area. The video therefore proves that al-Arab was indeed killed by live ammunition on the Greek-Turkish border as he was trying to cross into Greece. You can watch the Forensic Architecture video here (warning: graphic content).

      This is not the first case Forensic Architecture investigates in Greece. The Turner-nominated group conducted research on the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, the lynching of Zak Kostopoulos, a shipwreck off the coast of Lesvos that resulted in the death of at least 43 people, and the extradiction of Turkish political asylum seekers by Greece. In September 2019, Forensic Architecture had its first solo exhibition in Greece at State of Concept in Athens.

      The killing of al-Arab is the result of escalating violence on the Greek side of the border and rampant racism among Greek citizens, fuelled by politicians and the media. On 02 March, the Greek armed forces announced that they would be using live ammunition on the land border with Turkey and the coast of Lesvos. Meanwhile, armed vigilante groups have emerged patrolling the border, in order to deter refugees from crossing. According to Die Linke and Twitter reports, these groups are joined by neonazi groups from Germany and Austria.

      Amnesty International has released a statement calling out Greece for betraying its human rights responsibilities and for putting people’s lives at risk, stating that Greece should do whatever possible to protect the arrival of asylum seekers to the country. The Greek section of Amnesty International has released a separate report, pointing out that the situation along the Greek-Turkish border is “a humanitarian crisis caused by Europe”, and that Greece should protect the right to asylum with support from the EU.

      Demonstrations in solidarity with refugees and against state violence and racism have been announced for today, Thursday 05 March, in various cities in Greece.

      http://und-athens.com/journal/fa-alarab-killing
      #assassinat #meurtre #preuves

    • Pourquoi les migrants bloqués à la frontière grecque évitent-ils la #Bulgarie ?

      Réputé pour faire la vie dure aux réfugiés, le pays est aussi protégé par les bonnes relations que son Premier ministre entretient avec le président turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

      Dans le bras de fer migratoire qui oppose la Turquie à l’Union européenne (UE), un pays pourtant géographiquement en première ligne est resté jusqu’ici bien discret. Alors qu’environ 35 000 migrants ont tenté d’entrer en Grèce depuis la fin février d’après les autorités nationales, la situation à la frontière bulgare reste calme.

      Le 28 février, au lendemain de la décision du président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan de laisser passer les réfugiés cherchant à rejoindre l’Union européenne, le ministre bulgare de l’Intérieur, Mladen Marinov, s’est rendu au poste frontière de Kapitan Andreevo, situé à une vingtaine de kilomètres seulement du village grec de Kastaniès, pour constater « qu’aucune tentative de franchir la frontière [n’avait] été relevée, à l’exception de quelques cas isolés ». Depuis, la situation n’a pas évolué alors que migrants et réfugiés continuent à affluer à la frontière grecque.

      Ce contraste peut en partie s’expliquer par une réticence des réfugiés eux-mêmes à se rendre en Bulgarie, selon Miladina Monova, anthropologue à l’Académie des sciences bulgares et engagée dans l’aide aux migrants. « La situation est particulièrement difficile pour les migrants en Bulgarie, explique-t-elle. Depuis 2015, le message circule dans le milieu des réfugiés qu’il vaut mieux éviter de passer par ce pays car les risques d’être tabassé et dépouillé à la frontière sont particulièrement élevés. »

      Depuis 2016, Sofia a fait installer une clôture métallique équipée de détecteurs de mouvements le long des 250 kilomètres de frontière avec la Turquie. Le gouvernement défend une politique « zéro migration ». Ce mardi, le ministre bulgare de la Défense s’est même opposé à l’installation d’un camp de réfugiés provisoire dans le nord de la Grèce, à 45 km de la Bulgarie, estimant que « l’installation de migrants clandestins du côté grec, près de notre frontière, [créerait] les conditions d’une aggravation de la tension ».
      Violence aux frontières

      Les gardes-frontières bulgares sont effectivement réputés pour leurs pratiques violentes, consistant à repousser physiquement les migrants en dehors du territoire national. « L’usage excessif de la force et les vols par la police des frontières est toujours d’actualité. L’entrée irrégulière sur le territoire reste criminalisée, avec pour conséquence une détention administrative des migrants et réfugiés, y compris des enfants non-accompagnés », rappelle Amnesty international dans son dernier rapport sur la question, publié en 2018. En 2015, un migrant afghan est mort, tué par un coup de feu tiré par un garde-frontière, dans des circonstances qui n’ont toujours pas été éclaircies.

      Malgré sa situation géographique qui en fait une porte de l’UE, la Bulgarie n’a jamais constitué une grosse route migratoire. Ainsi en 2016, seuls 17 187 migrants sont entrés en Bulgarie, dix fois moins qu’en Grèce (176 906). Cette année, entre le premier janvier et la fin du mois de février, ils n’ont été que 141 à passer en Bulgarie, contre 5 854 en Grèce, selon l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM).

      Pour comprendre l’absence actuelle de tension migratoire à frontière turco-bulgare, il faut aussi regarder du côté des relations diplomatiques entre Sofia et Ankara. Le 2 mars, alors que les tensions entre la Turquie et la Grèce étaient à leur comble, le Premier ministre bulgare, Boïko Borissov, a affiché sur les réseaux sociaux sa poignée de main avec Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Et précisé devant les micros : « Nous sommes tombés d’accord pour continuer à entretenir nos relations de bon voisinage, la compréhension réciproque et la paix. » Une relation de bon voisinage qui a probablement évité à la Bulgarie le sort de la Grèce, qui a vu arriver à sa porte des migrants convoyés gratuitement par bus depuis le reste de la Turquie.

      Expulsion des gülenistes

      Au pouvoir depuis 2009, Boïko Borissov entretient depuis longtemps de bonnes relations avec Erdogan. Il a notamment gagné sa confiance en renvoyant vers la Turquie les gülenistes, ces membres d’une confrérie musulmane accusés par le président turc d’avoir organisé la tentative de coup d’Etat de juillet 2016. « On sait dans le milieu des défenseurs des droits de l’homme que le renvoi des gülénistes et des Kurdes est systématique. Mais leur nombre exact est difficile à établir, car il s’agit de renvois immédiats, avant même que ces personnes ne déposent une demande d’asile, note Miladina Monova. La Bulgarie est le seul pays des Balkans à le faire systématiquement, alors même qu’elle est membre de l’UE. » En retour, la Turquie reprend systématiquement les migrants qui tentent de passer en Bulgarie.

      Cette relation entre Borissov et Erdogan a ainsi conduit le Premier ministre conservateur bulgare à servir à plusieurs reprises de médiateur entre l’homme fort d’Ankara et les autres chefs d’Etat européens. En 2018, c’était déjà à son initiative qu’un sommet réunissant dirigeants turcs et européens avait été organisé à Varna, sur la côte bulgare, pour sauver une première fois l’accord migratoire.

      https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/03/10/pourquoi-les-migrants-bloques-a-la-frontiere-grecque-evitent-la-bulgarie_

    • Notes From #Pazarkule/ #Evros, Ninth Day

      Pazarkule. Turkey. March 8, 2020. Today we learned that it had become even harder for the refugees to leave the designated area to come to Karaağaç. They are now only allowed to use the main checkpoint. They are also required to give fingerprints and accept bodily checks. The soldiers also take pictures of their eyes. As our friend told us, exists started at 10 o’clock in the morning and went on during the day despite the long queues. Our friends waited two hours in the queue and only after that, they reached to Karaağaç. They were still in a positive mood when we met them there.

      One of our migrant friends told that while they were waiting in the queue a gendarmerie yelled at him saying ‘why are you laughing?’ He answered ‘I am not laughing at anything but why are you yelling?’ Then a higher officer took him to a corner and beat him. In an earlier conversation, this very same friend told us that the soldiers were helping them to cross to Greece. They even gave them hooks and ropes to take down the last remaining fence in front of the border gate. Our friends often tell us about incidents of ill-treatment by the same soldiers who ‘help’ them to cross to the Greek side.

      We also learned that although independent aid organizations were not allowed in the fenced-off area, Yavuz Selim Association was given permission to enter and distribute aid. Our friends from the inside also told us that the Beşir Association had been present on the ground since the first day and they distributed blue clothing items today.

      Our friends went back around 23.00 and reported that their fingerprints were not taken went they re-entered.

      Today we came across a Women’s Day demo in downtown Edirne. Migrants, borders or the war were mentioned neither in the press release nor on the banners and posters; despite the existence of such a large group of migrant women just by the city.

      Today we also had a chance to chat with refugee women. Our female friends who came from the zone told us about their experiences, stories and how they live through this as women. While we were filming, one of the women told us that she studied cinema for one year in Iran and offered to use the camera and make the shooting. We gave her the camera. Thanks to this, the women we were chatting got to know each other and they were relieved because they spoke the same language.

      They told us that in Turkey migrant women were ill approached particularly by men. Their common experience involved being sexually harassed by their bosses. They also mentioned that they had to work for very low wages, could not even get their salaries paid and did not have any access to mechanisms that would guarantee their rights. They also did not have much solidarity from Turkish women. This lack of contact made them feel isolated. Two of these friends told us that although they had Masters degrees and appropriate expertise, they could only find unskilled work. A younger friend said that she wanted to continue with her education and it was not possible in Turkey. They also told us that their future seemed full of uncertainties but they still held the hope that they would be able to cross the border and realize their dreams. Despite all the hardships they had to endure, their only wish is to have an ordinary, quiet and safe life.

      They told us that the conditions in Pazarkule are particularly harsh for women and children; that the sanitary and accommodation conditions were very bad. Women in the area (including themselves) would not go out of their tents often, because they were not feeling safe. There have been incidents of sexual harassment and one woman managed to run away from those who tried to rape her.

      On top of all these problems, the aggression from the Greek side is very tough. Our friends told us with much regret that last night (March 7) the intensity of teargas was really bad, and women with babies lacked protection. Another friend told us that, the same night a mother with a baby in her arms took refuge in our friend’s make-shift nylon tent. The baby had difficulty breathing and the mother was waving a t-shift to air the tent. The baby was now fine, though.

      When we asked about how the women in the area were interacting, they told us that a group of women visited tents to discuss acting in unison. However there was not consensus because everybody had different motivations. Our friends said that they understood these women too because they all were in a struggle for themselves and their children and they would do anything to win this struggle.

      When we chatted about the Women’s Day, they emphasized that their expectation from all women was that women would not discriminate against them. They also expect solidarity between women without any reservations on the basis of language, religion, and nationality. Their wish for all women in the world is to live in equality and freedom. We also learned that some women organized a Women’s day demo in the area. There is a need for more activity directed towards women and other vulnerable groups in the area.

      We also think that sharing our experience in coordination would be useful for new initiatives:

      –Our chat with female migrant friends today reminded us of the importance of maintaining gender equality in our work.

      – All newcomers need orientation about what has been going on here and the material conditions. Short visits only allow getting used to the field, but longer stays are emotionally and physically very tiring.

      –Therefore, we prioritize groups that can stay between 2-5 days. We can manage our activities in groups of 2-5 people. More people are not necessary and larger groups increase the risk of facing interference from officials. If people want to be in the field and commit time and labour, there are plenty of political and practical arenas to contribute. We have at the moment a pool of volunteers that would be enough to do rotations in the coming weeks. If we need further volunteers, we will issue a call again.

      No border pazarkule/edirne, March 8, 2020.

      https://enoughisenough14.org/2020/03/11/notes-from-pazarkule-evros-ninth-day

    • Turkey Steps Back From Confrontation at Greek Border

      The country is winding down an aggressive two-week operation to move tens of thousands of migrants to its frontiers. But relations with Greece and Europe have suffered.

      Turkey has signaled that it is winding down its two-week operation to aid the movement of tens of thousands of people toward Europe, following a tough on-the-ground response from Greek border guards and a tepid diplomatic reaction from European politicians.

      Migrants at the Greek-Turkish land border began to be transported back to Istanbul by bus this week, witnesses at the border said, de-escalating a standoff that initially set off fears of another European migration crisis. Greek officials said the number of attempted border crossings had dwindled from thousands a day to a few hundred, and none were successful on Friday, even as sporadic exchanges of tear-gas with Turkish security forces continued.

      Also Friday, Turkish officials announced that three human smugglers had each been sentenced to 125 years in prison for their roles in the death of a Syrian toddler, Alan Kurdi, whose drowning came to epitomize an earlier migration crisis, in 2015.

      That announcement and the week’s other developments were interpreted by experts and European politicians as signals to Europe that the Turkish authorities were once again willing to police their borders and quell a second wave of migration.

      It follows a tense period in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey attempted to engineer the reverse: a new migration crisis on Europe’s borders.

      On Feb. 28, the Turkish government announced it would no longer stop migrants trying to reach Europe, and it then drove hundreds to the threshold of Greece, live-streaming the process to encourage more to follow.

      The move was perceived as an attempt to rally European support for Turkey’s military campaign in northern Syria, and more European aid for the four million refugees inside Turkey.

      On at least one occasion, Turkish officials even forced migrants to leave. In a video clip filmed onboard a bus ferrying people to the border, reluctant migrants were shown being forced off the vehicle at gunpoint by officers in plain clothes, and beaten when they resisted.

      https://twitter.com/daphnetoli/status/1236263937706004481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      Marc Pierini, a former European Union envoy to Turkey, called it “the first-ever refugee exodus, albeit a limited one, fully organized by one government against another.”

      The border clash not only stirred fears of a new migration crisis, but it also saw both countries react with anger and tough tactics. The Greeks have been condemned for suspending asylum applications and detaining and returning some migrants to Turkey.

      To foment a sense of crisis, Turkish security forces fired tear gas over the border at their Greek counterparts and provided journalists with footage of aggressive Greek responses to migrants. Mr. Erdogan accused Greek officials of behaving like officials in Nazi Germany.

      But the Turks used aggressive tactics of their own.

      Footage captured by The New York Times showed Turkish security forces standing aside to allow migrants to tear down part of a fence dividing Turkey and Greece. And other footage emerged of a Turkish vessel pursuing a Greek coast guard vessel in the Aegean, and of a Turkish armored vehicle ramming a border fence between the two countries.

      The Turkish Interior Ministry then sent more guards to the border — not to prevent people from leaving without documents, but to stop Greece from returning them by force, according to the Turkish interior minister, Suleyman Soylu.

      The confrontation marked a low point in relations between two neighbors who have long had a fragile coexistence within NATO, and it threatened to upend a fine balance in the strategically important, energy-rich southeastern Mediterranean.

      It also brought front and center the European Union’s dependence on Turkey to limit the movement of migrants toward its territory, as well as Mr. Erdogan’s willingness to weaponize migrants for his own purposes.

      But experts said Mr. Erdogan’s mobilization of migrants and security forces at the borders with Europe could have backfired, being so provocative that it may have made European politicians less willing to make concessions.

      “The problem is that because of the blackmail used by Turkey, getting an agreement from the European Council is going to be more difficult,” said Mr. Pierini, who is now an analyst for Carnegie Europe, a research organization.

      The European Union in 2016 agreed to funnel 6 billion euros to organizations helping the nearly four million Syrian refugees in Turkey, in exchange for Turkey’s help in securing its borders with Greece.

      That deal came after nearly one million refugees left Turkey for Greece, allowing them to reach the Continent’s prosperous north relatively easily.

      But Turkey has complained that European funding has been slow in coming, and has been paid to aid groups as well as into its own government coffers, making it less efficient. At a meeting in Brussels this week, European Union leaders discussed with Mr. Erdogan whether the agreement would be extended and how to restore it.

      Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the meeting with Mr. Erdogan on Monday had been a “good start” in restoring normalcy at the Greek-Turkish borders.

      “Migrants need support, Greece needs support but also Turkey needs support, and this involves finding a path forward with Turkey,” she said. “Clearly we have our disagreements but we have spoken plainly and we have spoken openly to each other about these.”

      https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1237119313447923712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

      The European Union is likely to eventually agree to send more money to Turkey to help with challenges posed by the refugee influx, Mr. Pierini said.

      But European leaders have taken a dim view of Mr. Erdogan’s latest showmanship, and may have become even more reluctant to accede to other Turkish diplomatic priorities, Mr. Pierini added. Those include an expansion of the Turkey’s joint customs union with Europe, and further visa reforms for Turkish nationals.

      The awkward coexistence between Greece and Turkey since the mid-1990s, when the two countries came close to war, could be at even greater risk of lasting damage.

      “Greek-Turkish détente has been one of the cornerstones of geostrategic relations in the southeastern Mediterranean — and the potential of this collapsing is alarming to the region and Western allies,” said Ian Lesser, the vice president of the German Marshall Fund.

      He said that the escalation had unleashed forces that may not be easy to manage.

      “Once someone opens up Pandora’s box, in an environment when you have proxy groups, coast guards, criminal traffickers, many actors who may not be fully under the control of governments, there is always the potential to go wrong,” Mr. Lesser said.

      “That’s true in Syria but it’s also true on the Greek-Turkish border,” he added.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/world/europe/turkey-greece-border-migrants.html

    • Que sait-on de ces photos montrant des migrants quasi nus à la frontière gréco-turque ?

      Des images publiées par la chaîne turque TRT accusent la police grecque de frapper et de dépouiller des migrants. Propagande, répond Athènes. Les témoignages accablant les policiers grecs sont pourtant nombreux.

      CheckNews a retrouvé l’auteur de ces images : il s’agit du photographe Belal Khaled, qui travaille pour la chaîne turque TRT World. Joint par CheckNews, il a accepté de nous transmettre les originaux de plusieurs photos et vidéos, dont nous avons pu extraire les métadonnées. Elles montrent que ces photographies ont été prises le 5 mars 2020, entre 18 h 30 et 20 h, à quelques mètres de la frontière greco-turque, près de la ville d’Uzunköprü, dans la province d’Edirne.

      Belal Khaled raconte y avoir croisé plusieurs groupes de migrants originaires de divers pays (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syrie, Irak, Maroc…) : « Ils revenaient de Grèce vers la Turquie. Cette zone est actuellement sèche, donc les migrants peuvent passer en marchant. Ils ont été arrêtés en Grèce, parfois à la proximité de la frontière, d’autres dans des villages ou même à 100 kilomètres dans le pays, puis ont été ramenés par les policiers grecs à la frontière. » Des vues satellites consultées à l’aide du logiciel Google Earth Pro permettent de se rendre compte que le fleuve Evros (en turc Meriç) peut atteindre un faible niveau à certaines périodes de l’année.

      Le photographe a également filmé des images pour la chaîne de télévision turque TRT, dans laquelle des migrants accusent des soldats grecs de les avoir battus et dépouillés de leur argent, de leurs téléphones et de leurs vêtements.

      Des anti-migrants dénoncent une mise en scène, sans preuve

      Suite à la diffusion de ces images, des internautes hostiles à l’arrivée de nouveaux migrants en Europe ont dénoncé des mises en scène de la part de la chaîne de télévision turque. Selon eux, les hommes se seraient dévêtus peu avant d’être photographiés.

      Ils soulignent également que sur cette photo, un homme torse nu sourit. Une preuve, selon eux, qu’il ne s’agit pas de « vrais migrants », mais de propagandistes voulant nuire à l’image de la Grèce.

      CheckNews a observé de près les photos et vidéos de Belal Khaled. En comparant les visages des hommes présents sur la série prise par Belal Khaled, il apparaît que l’homme au t-shirt blanc n’est pas la même personne que l’homme entouré sur une autre photo. Les métadonnées des photos indiquent que la première image (avec l’homme en tee-shirt) a été prise à 18 h 24, tandis que celle montrant le groupe d’hommes autour du feu a été faite à 19 h 31.

      Nous avons également remarqué que le groupe présent sur les photos avec l’homme en tee-shirt blanc n’est pas le même que celui en sous-vêtements. Belal Khaled explique : « Il y avait deux groupes. Si vous observez la lumière dans la vidéo, elle est plus sombre quand il y a le groupe venu par la rivière, car il est arrivé plus tard, mais les monteurs l’ont mis au début de la vidéo [du reportage de TRT] pour commencer l’histoire. L’autre groupe [avec l’homme en tee-shirt blanc, ndlr] est celui que nous avons vu en arrivant. Nous les avons trouvés assis dans l’herbe, certains d’entre eux étaient quasiment nus, d’autres portaient des vêtements. »

      Quant aux accusations de mise en scène, prouvées selon les internautes anti-migrants par les rires des hommes près de la rivière, le photographe répond : « Si nous avions voulu falsifier nos images, nous n’aurions pas diffusé celles avec des gens qui sourient. C’est pour cela qu’on peut dire que ce sont des vraies photos. C’est normal qu’ils sourient. Je ne sais pas pourquoi ils rient ou de quoi ils parlaient, mais ils peuvent se dire : "Regarde, il prend une photo de toi !" et ça les fait sourire. »

      Contacté par CheckNews, un représentant du gouvernement grec estime que « les documents de propagande turcs ont été réfutés à plusieurs reprises par le porte-parole du gouvernement, Stelios Petsas. Quant à la vidéo présentée par la chaîne d’Etat turque, il suffit de la regarder pour pouvoir la juger. »
      Des témoignages récoltés par des ONG et le New York Times accablent les policiers grecs

      Si le gouvernement grec refuse d’accorder de la valeur aux images capturées par la chaîne turque TRT, les témoignages rapportant des abus des forces grecques à l’égard des migrants sont cependant nombreux.

      CheckNews a ainsi pu retrouver sur Twitter plusieurs photos et vidéos de migrants torse nu et affichant des traces de coups sur leurs dos. Et qui accusent les forces de sécurité grecques de les avoir battus.

      L’auteur de ces tweets est Mohammed Yaşar, un Turc qui travaille pour le groupe de solidarité Tarlabasi, une ONG basée à Uzunköprü qui vient en aide aux migrants en leur fournissant des couvertures et vêtements. Il dit avoir observé le retour de personnes sans vêtements depuis le 3 mars, et publie depuis des vidéos qu’il a lui-même réalisées au contact des migrants maltraités, pour « montrer à tous les peuples du monde comment la Grèce agit et pour que ça cesse ». Il a accepté de nous fournir les fichiers originaux, dont les métadonnées confirment que les images ont bien été prises entre le 4 et le 8 mars 2020, le long de la frontière turque.

      Dans une enquête parue le 10 mars, le New York Times révèle l’existence d’un site secret en Grèce, où les migrants sont « détenus en secret et sans accès à un recours juridique ». Le journal américain note aussi, photo à l’appui, que « plusieurs migrants ont déclaré dans des interviews qu’ils avaient été capturés, dépouillés de leurs biens, battus et expulsés de Grèce sans avoir eu la possibilité de demander l’asile ou de parler à un avocat, dans le cadre d’une procédure illégale connue sous le nom de refoulement ». Le porte-parole du gouvernement, Stelios Petsas, a réagi à l’enquête en réfutant : « Il n’y a pas de centre de détention secret en Grèce. » Avant d’ajouter que si un journal international connaît le site, c’est qu’il n’est pas secret.

      Interrogé sur de tels faits de maltraitance, le directeur adjoint de la division Crises et conflits à Human Rights Watch, Gerry Simpson, déclare à CheckNews, après deux jours d’observation près de la frontière greco-turque : « Nous disposons de preuves importantes provenant de réfugiés et de Turcs vivant dans les villages frontaliers, qui s’occupent des personnes expulsées de Grèce. Ils racontent que depuis la fin du mois de février, du côté grec, des personnes habillées en uniforme et en tenue civile ont battu et volé des réfugiés. » Dans un tweet publié le 8 mars, Gerry Simpson ajoute que « les forces grecques de sécurité aux frontières ont déshabillé et battu des réfugiés avant de les expulser presque nus avec ce genre de blessures », en postant une des photos de Belal Khaled. Dans un rapport publié en juillet 2018, l’ONG de défense des droits humains avait déjà dénoncé les « conditions inhumaines » auxquelles étaient exposés les migrants dans les centres d’accueil et de détention grecs, ainsi que les « abus et mauvais traitements » causés par la police.

      https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/2020/03/13/que-sait-on-de-ces-photos-montrant-des-migrants-quasi-nus-a-la-frontiere-

    • Turkey to Close Land Borders With Greece, Bulgaria Due to #Coronavirus

      Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Wednesday afternoon that the country’s land borders with Greece and Bulgaria will be closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

      Thus Turkey’s borders with the European Union will remain closed to the entry and exit of people; however the usual trade which goes on between these countries is not expected to be interrupted.

      It is still unknown for how long the borders will remain closed.

      Later on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry of the country issued a statement, confirming the border closure.

      It remains to be seen if this will affect the border tensions in Evros due to the massed thousands of migrants which have been trying to enter Greece since late February.

      https://greece.greekreporter.com/2020/03/18/turkey-to-close-land-borders-with-greece-bulgaria-due-to-coron
      #fermeture_des_frontières

    • Locals on tractors assist Greek Army and Police along the Evros (video)

      With their farming tractors and headlights on, local residents moved to help the Greek army and police along the Evros river, the natural border to Turkey, to prevent illegal crossing from the Turkish border into Greece.
      Others have gathered to the South Evros with their vehicles and see themselves also as assistants to the Greek Army.

      According to a report by ccn-greece, almost the majority of the locals are on the point on Tuesday night, March 3.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSOsSJ182Tk&feature=emb_logo


      Some of the citizens who patrol in area “have a rifle,” and abuse migrants when they find them, cnn-greece reported the other day.

      Tuesday was a rather quite day at the Greek-Turkish border, although still q,500 people attempted to enter into Greece and 32 from Afghanistan and Pakistan managed it. They were arrested on the spot.

      After it became clear that the border crossing in Kastanies in the north of Evros s will not open, apparently Turkish authorities changes their plans and decided to move migrants to the south at Evros Delta. Buses were made available on Tuesday for this purpose.

      Several migrants told Greek media reports currently on the Turkish side, that they would try to cross the Evros river by boat.

      One migrant told Star TV that they will get the boats by the Turkish forces in the area. “Children and women will go back to Istanbul,” he said. “Mass crossing of the river will take place happen within or in a week,” he added.

      “It is our duty to support the authorities’ efforts, so that it is clear to everybody and especially Turkey, that Greece is a place where everyone comes in. This should have been done from the first moment, when the problem arose in 2015,” a farmer who joined the patrols with his tractor told protothema. “We are farmers, but we also live at the borders region,” the farmer added.

      In facts, the whole Farmers Association has decided to assist the army and police wherever possible.

      A total of 26,000 people were prevented from entering Greek territory via the Evros from Saturday morning to Tuesday afternoon. More than 218 people have been arrested since Saturday. They were immediately arrested, taken to court and sentence in the average to three to four y

      ears, some with an additional fine of 10,000 euros.

      https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/03/04/evros-citizens-tractors-patrols-greece-turkey-migration
      #milices #milices_privées

    • Les migrants évacués de la frontière gréco-turque et placés en #quarantaine

      Le Premier ministre grec a indiqué vendredi que les migrants massés depuis début mars à la frontière terrestre entre la Grèce et la Turquie avaient quitté les lieux, à leur demande et pour se protéger, selon l’agence turque DHA, de la pandémie de coronavirus.

      « Il semble que le campement installé (depuis le 1er mars) a été démantelé et ceux qui étaient (dans la région frontalière du fleuve) Evros sont partis », a indiqué Kyriakos Mitsotakis lors d’une vidéoconférence du conseil des ministres.

      Le ministre turc de l’Intérieur Suleyman Soylu avait indiqué jeudi que 4600 migrants continuaient de camper près du poste frontalier grec de Kastanies, du côté turc.

      Mais jeudi soir, les demandeurs d’asile ont été transférés à bord d’autocars vers des installations adéquates en Turquie pour qu’ils restent en quarantaine pendant deux semaines afin de garantir qu’ils ne soient pas contaminés par le virus Covid-19, a rapporté l’agence turque DHA. Cette évacuation a eu lieu « à la demande des migrants », selon DHA.
      Le campement brûlé

      De son côté, la télévision publique grecque ERT a indiqué que la police turque avait mis le feu dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi au campement désert après l’évacuation des demandeurs d’asile. Une vidéo diffusée vendredi par le gouvernement grec montre de hautes flammes le long des barrières qui marquent la frontière.

      Le Premier ministre grec a souligné que les militaires et les policiers grecs resteraient sur place et que la clôture le long de la frontière serait « renforcée ». « Un chapitre est peut-être clos mais la bataille continue », a encore déclaré Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
      Certains sont détenus en Grèce

      En quête de soutien en Syrie, la Turquie avait annoncé le 29 février qu’elle n’empêcherait plus les migrants de passer en Europe et des milliers de demandeurs d’asile s’étaient aussitôt massés à Pazrakule, du côté turc de la frontière.

      La Grèce avait alors demandé et obtenu l’aide de l’Union européenne pour empêcher les demandeurs d’asile de traverser la frontière.

      Les forces antiémeutes grecques dépêchées à Kastanies avaient fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes pour repousser les migrants. Mais certains qui avaient réussi à passer sur le sol grec sont depuis détenus dans des camps fermés en Grèce ou ont été refoulés en Turquie, selon des ONG, qui ont dénoncé des « pratiques illégales » d’Athènes.

      https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/11201770-les-migrants-evacues-de-la-frontiere-grecoturque-et-places-en-quarantai
      #évacuation

      ping @thomas_lacroix

    • Turkey moves migrants from Greek border amid virus pandemic

      Turkish authorities on Friday evacuated hundreds of migrants who had been waiting at the border with Greece hoping to make their way into Europe, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.

      Thousands of migrants had massed at a border crossing with European Union-member Greece after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last month that his country would no longer prevent refugees and other migrants wanting to travel to EU countries.

      Violent clashes erupted between the migrants and Greek border authorities trying to push them back.

      Anadolu Agency reported Friday that migrants waiting at the border crossing in Edirne province were transported in buses to state guest houses where they would be quarantined. They would be moved to other regions in Turkey at the end of the quarantine, the agency reported.

      Anadolu did not say how many people were transported away from the border area but an estimated 2,000 had been staying in a makeshift camp near the border gate.

      Turkey has so far reported 75 deaths related to the new coronavirus and 3,629 infections. It was not clear if any of the migrants at the border had contracted the virus.

      The Edirne governor’s office did not return calls.

      Greece hailed the development as an “important thing for our country and for Europe,” praising Greek authorities’ ability to guard its land and sea borders.

      Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking during a teleconference with ministers on the situation at the border, said Greek authorities had “ascertained that the makeshift camp which had been created ... appears to have been dismantled and those who were on the Evros border have been moved away.”

      Greek authorities also shared a night-time video of a fire in a wooded area, which they said was Turkish authorities burning the tents left behind by the departing migrants.

      “A chapter might potentially be closing, but this battle, have no doubt, continues,” Mitsotakis told the ministers, according to a statement released by his office. “We managed to secure a very important thing for our country and for Europe. The ability and efficiency of guarding our land and sea borders.”

      A Turkish journalist based in Edirne said several buses were seen leaving the border area and that authorities later disinfected an area where the migrants had been camping.

      Anadolu said some of the migrants asked to be moved, while others had to be convinced.

      Turkey declared its borders open for migrants to cross into Europe following months of threats by Erdogan that he would allow millions of refugees into Europe unless the EU provided more support for the more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

      http://www.ekathimerini.com/251075/article/ekathimerini/news/turkey-moves-migrants-from-greek-border-amid-virus-pandemic

    • Crisis not averted: security policies cannot solve a humanitarian problem, now or in the long-term

      At the end of February, the Turkish government announced it would allow refugees to travel onwards to Greece and Bulgaria, in the hope of extracting from the EU further financial support as well as backing for its military operations in Syria. It has now taken up its role as Europe’s border guard again, but the manufactured crisis induced by the Turkish decision and the EU response highlight the long-term failings of the EU’s asylum and migration model.

      http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-359-crisis-not-averted.pdf

    • Tra Turchia e Grecia. Cani, doppiette, trattori e neonazi: la caccia ai profughi

      L’indicibile saldatura è avvenuta sul terreno. “Nacht und nebel”, proprio come nel vecchio slogan nazista, “di notte e nella nebbia” un primo gruppo di estremisti tedeschi ha cominciato a percorrere i campi dove si da la caccia ai migranti. Un richiamo per gli altri che da Austria, Italia, Ungheria si sono messi in macchina per “soccorrere - scrivono nelle loro chat - il popolo greco”. Tra loro Marin Sellner, beneficiario di 1.500 euro donati al suo movimento dallo stragista di Christchurch, in Nuova Zelanda (50 morti a giugno 2019).

      Anche nelle ultime ventiquattr’ore non sono mancati gli scontri lungo la barriera metallica che si è rivelata un muro invalicabile. Dal confine turco, però, i profughi che da giorni danno l’assalto alla frontiera stanno cambiando strategia. Gli attacchi avvengono specialmente di notte, con il fuoco di copertura (fumogeni, lacrimogeni e bombe stordenti) lanciati dalle forze speciali di Ankara. L’opposta propaganda si rinfaccia una serie di colpi, questa volta di piombo vero, esplosi contro un blindato greco. Attacco a sua volta lamentato anche dall’esercito di Ankara.

      Non si sa dove può portare una crisi nella quale due alleati della Nato, per di più confinanti, si sparano addosso. Di certo Erdogan non ha permesso ai profughi di abbandonare la presa, aspettando probabilmente un nuovo incontro con Angela Merkel.

      La contabilità della guerriglia di confine non tiene conto dei feriti. Solo degli arrestati e dei respinti prima che riuscissero a mettere piede su una zolla di Ue. Oggi 3 arresti (2 togolesi e un pachistano) e 741 tentativi d’ingresso bloccati.

      I pochi profughi che riescono a guadagnare un varco devono vedersela con un’armata brancaleone male equipaggiata ma molto determinata. C’è il vecchio Theodoros che non ha avuto il tempo neanche di staccare l’aratro dal trattore con cui si inoltra nella boscaglia. Mentre avanza fa tanto di quel chiasso da mettere in guardia chiunque stia nel raggio di mezzo chilometro. Nei villaggi vicini hanno perfino organizzato una sfilata notturna con le macchine agricole attrezzate con potenti fari alla ricerca dei disgraziati. A sud di Kastanies, dove il fiume già presagisce l’accesso al mare, i paramilitari tollerati da Atene hanno catturato nei giorni scorsi una trentina di profughi, tra cui donne e bambini. Nelle foto che i “cacciatori” si passano di telefono in telefono, si vedono i “prigionieri” a cui sono state tolte le scarpe, ammassate ad alcuni metri da loro, seduti in terra e guardati a vista da uomini armati in attesa che arrivi la polizia. Le donne e i bambini indossano in maggioranza un cappellino rosso. Un accorgimento per renderli ben visibili casomai la corrente dell’Evros li avesse trascinati.

      Dinos Theoharidis, il “colonnello” di Alba Dorata, esprime il suo disappunto con i giornalisti italiani che hanno scoperto e raccontato il suo ruolo da ex membro dei corpi speciali. Adesso fa da ufficiale di collegamento tra i civili in armi e gli ufficiali dell’esercito, mentre le forze armate continuano a riversare uomini sul confine per dare il cambio ai militari che devono vedersela con il gas urticante lanciato dalle forze speciali di Ankara. “A causa vostra ora tutti sanno quello che faccio qui - ci rimprovera Dinos - che bisogna c’era di scriverlo? Non siete dei patrioti come noi?”.

      A dargli manforte sono piombati i tedeschi del Movimento identitario. A Berlino nei mesi scorsi l’Ufficio federale per la Protezione della Costituzione, ha dichiarato che il gruppo è passato da “sospettato di estremismo” a “movimento estremista di destra”. Parte integrante del movimento nazionalista paneruopeo. Una decina di giovani sono arrivati attraverso la frontiera bulgara. Da subito si sono messi a disposizione delle ronde.

      L’internazionale xenofoba è stata accolta con l’applauso di alcuni militari. Soldati che non hanno impedito agli estremisti berlinesi di srotolare uno striscione proprio contro la frontiera turca: “No way”, non si passa. Il governo di Atene sta valutando la loro espulsione. Chiunque voglia perlustrare il confine e dare la caccia ai migranti, qui è il benvenuto. Meglio se con un fucile da caccia in spalla, ma senza farne una bandiera per ottenere visibilità politica a danno di una Grecia Che negli ultimi giorni ha perso molte simpatie.

      Accade in piena Unione Europea. C’è chi mette a disposizione i trattori per superare i muri di fango intorno agli argini. Chi guida mute di cani e, con la doppietta già caricata a pallettoni, batte zolla a zolla i campi di cotone e irrompe nei casali abbandonati. Ogni volta che incrociano un’edicola votiva, si fermano per un triplice segno di croce. Poi procedono lasciandosi strattonare dai segugi, affondando gli scarponi nella direzione decisa dai cani.Sono attesi gruppi neonazisti da ogni dove. Troppo anche per il governo di Atene. “Trovateli a mandateli via”, l’ordine giunto ai commissariati. Alcuni sono però rimasti in zona. Basta che diano una mano ad Alba Dorata e non facciano troppo baccano sui social network.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/cani-doppiette-trattori-e-neonazi-per-dare-la-caccia-ai-migranti-nuovi-scon
      #no_way

  • Greece reinforces land border with Turkey to stem flow of migrants | World news | The Guardian

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/29/greece-reinforces-land-border-with-turkey-to-stem-flow-of-migrants

    Greece has rushed to reinforce its land border with Turkey as fears mount over a sharp rise in the number of refugees and migrants crossing the frontier.

    Police patrols were augmented as local authorities said the increase in arrivals had become reminiscent of the influx of migrants on the Aegean islands close to the Turkish coast. About 2,900 people crossed the land border in April, by far surpassing the number who arrived by sea, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. The figure represents half of the total number of crossings during the whole of 2017.

    #migrations #asile #turquie #grèce #réfugiés

  • On the edge of the EU, refugee flows flood the Evros River

    A clampdown on Europe’s eastern borders and the Aegean Sea has forced migrants to seek different — and more dangerous — routes to the continent. Hunters and fishermen find their bodies, reports Anthee Carassava.

    http://www.dw.com/en/on-the-edge-of-the-eu-refugee-flows-flood-the-evros-river/a-43068842?maca=en-Twitter-sharing
    #Evros #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Grèce #frontières #Pavlos_Pavlidis #mourir_aux_frontières #morts #décès

    • Si jamais, pour mémoire, j’avais écrit cet article en 2012, paru dans @lacite et repris par @visionscarto :
      Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière greco-turque

      L’Europe se déchire sur la « crise des migrants », et la Hongrie vient d’annoncer la fermeture de la frontière et l’édification d’une clôture de barbelés de 4 mètres de haut sur les 175 kilomètres de tracé frontalier avec la Serbie. Mais que se passe-t-il vraiment le long des frontières européennes ? Voyage en plusieurs étapes avec Alberto Campi et Cristina Del Biaggio, qui arpentent ces marges depuis 2012.

      Aujourd’hui, le mur d’Evros, sur la frontière greco-turque. Considérée comme une passoire, les autorités grecques ont cherché à la « verrouiller » en construisant un « mur » sur un peu plus de 12 kilomètres, symbole du durcissement de la politique de surveillance et de restriction des flux migratoires vers l’Europe.


      https://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    • Erdogan crackdown, Syria war seen fueling migrant flows to Greece

      Over the previous week, a record 1,500 migrants and asylum-seekers crossed the Evros River border, most of them Kurds from Syria and Iraq, as well as self-professed critics of the Erdogan regime. Most turn themselves into Greek authorities, waiting to be formally identified and transferred to reception centers.

      Greek officials are concerned that arrivals via Evros will rise as dry weather has resulted in lower water levels in the river.

      Another key factor, military and police sources have told Kathimerini, is that Turkish authorities appear less willing than before to stem inflows. They say that the ease with which traffickers and migrants are able to reach the Turkish side of the border – despite Erdogan’s decision to reinforce Turkey’s land border with thousands of pro-government military border guards – suggests that the authorities have either been ordered to turn a blind eye to widespread trespassing or are susceptible to bribes. Additionally, analysts say that the fact that the vast majority of migrants are Kurds from war-torn Afrin in Syria and from Iraq, whose presence in Turkey would be a headache for Erdogan, amplifies skepticism over the true motives of Turkish authorities.

      “The Turks are doing in Evros what we did in Idomeni in the beginning [of the crisis],” a source said in reference to the now-defunct border camp on Greece’s frontier with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. “We simply facilitated the refugee flows so that they could move on to Europe through Skopje.”

      Meanwhile, sources say that the channels of communication between Greek and Turkish border guards, which in the past facilitated the arrest of migrants and smugglers before the attempted crossing, have been clogged amid deteriorating bilateral ties. The arrest of two Greek soldiers in early March after they accidentally crossed into Turkish territory has made Greek patrols more restrained in their operations.

      Greece plans to reinforce its border force with an additional 150 guards as of May 1.

      http://www.ekathimerini.com/227933/article/ekathimerini/news/erdogan-crackdown-syria-war-seen-fueling-migrant-flows-to-greece

      Greece plans to reinforce its border force with an additional 150 guards as of May 1

      –-> #militarisation_des_frontières

    • Concern as rising numbers cross from Turkey to Greece via Evros

      Over a thousand people have crossed the Evros river, marking the land border between Turkey and Greece, since March this year. Last week over one hundred people arrived each day and 340 people arrived on Tuesday alone. This has led to concerns from authorities and NGOs that an emergency situation is unfolding.

      Many of the people crossing the border have ended up sleeping in the parks and squares of the city of Thessaloniki, waiting for a place in a camp. There are also reports of hundreds of people waiting outside police stations, to get arrested in order to gain temporary residence. The municipality has expressed concerns that the city may experience similar circumstance as the events of 2015, where thousands of people slept on the streets across Greece. Local and national migration authorities have scheduled a meeting for Saturday to discuss the situation. The Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas expressed his concerns about the increase of arrivals and announced his ministry has developed two plans to deal with the situation, which he will share privately with party leaders.

      Arrivals have also been increasing on the Aegean islands, with arrivals on Lesvos almost four times the amount of last year. Minister Vitsas said “I’m not scared about the islands because we know what we have to do. What is really worrisome is the huge increase through Evros.” A concern also raised by the Head of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Greece, Ruben Cano: “This is not the route most people take to reach Greece – it’s a worrying development. The summer will see river levels drop which could also lead to a further rise in people braving the journey.”

      The situation for refugees in Greece has been increasingly tense after incidents on Sunday, where a group of asylum seekers who had been occupying the central square in Mytillene, Lesvos to protest reception conditions and long asylum processing times, were attacked by over a hundred far right extremists. The attackers threw projectiles, including bricks and flares. The Mayor of Lesvos, Spyros Galinos, wrote to Minister Vitsas and the Citizen’s Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, saying, “Lack of action and poor management has resulted in nearly 10,000 asylum seekers being trapped in miserable conditions around a town of 27,000 residents and has created intense fear in the local community; a community that has lost its sense of security and after last night’s events its cohesion too.”

      The state of affairs in Turkey following the failed coup-attempt of 2016, the humanitarian impact of the war in Syria and deteriorating diplomatic ties between Greece and Turkey are cited as reasons for the increase of crossings of mainly people of Kurdish descent from Syria and Iraq and Turkish nationals.


      https://www.ecre.org/concern-as-rising-numbers-cross-from-turkey-to-greece-via-evros

    • Grèce : de plus en plus de réfugiés arrivent par voie terrestre

      La situation devient « intenable » dans la région de l’Evros, au nord-est de la Grèce. Selon le HCR, 2900 personnes ont pénétré dans le pays en avril par la frontière terrestre, 1650 en mars. Les autorités grecques s’inquiètent de cette hausse d’autant que de nombreux camps ont été fermés dans le nord du pays et que les capacités d’accueil y sont restreintes.


      https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/les-refugies-sont-de-plus-en-plus-nombreux-a-arriver-par-voie-ter

    • ’Grieken die migranten terugsturen is duistere, illegale praktijk’

      In de nacht, buiten het zicht, langs de afgelegen rivieroever van de Evros gebeurt het: migranten die voet op Griekse bodem hebben gezet, worden weer in een bootje geladen en teruggevaren naar Turkije. Pushbacks. De grensrivier tussen Turkije en Griekenland is het middelpunt van een goed georganiseerd, illegaal gesleep met migranten.

      https://nos.nl/artikel/2230095-grieken-die-migranten-terugsturen-is-duistere-illegale-praktijk.html
      #refoulement #push-back

    • Le HCR demande à la Grèce d’améliorer la situation à Evros

      Le HCR, l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, demande au gouvernement grec d’améliorer de toute urgence les conditions de vie et les capacités d’accueil des réfugiés dans la région d’Evros, à la suite d’une récente augmentation des arrivées via la frontière terrestre avec la Turquie. Des centaines de personnes sont actuellement maintenues dans des centres de détention de la police.

      Environ 2 900 personnes sont arrivées à Evros ce mois-ci, principalement des familles syriennes ou iraquiennes. Cela représente près de la moitié des arrivées enregistrées pour l’ensemble de l’année 2017. Selon les données recueillies par le HCR, les arrivées par voie terrestre ont dépassé le nombre d’arrivées par la mer au mois d’avril. Au moins huit personnes sont mortes depuis le début de l’année en tentant de traverser le fleuve Evros.

      Cette augmentation des nouvelles arrivées met à rude épreuve l’unique centre d’accueil et d’identification d’Evros, situé à Fylakio. Ce centre a dépassé sa capacité maximale d’accueil de 240 personnes, dont 120 enfants non accompagnés ou séparés de leur famille.

      Etant donné que le centre d’accueil et d’identification est submergé et qu’il peine à procéder à l’enregistrement et à l’identification des réfugiés, à fournir des services d’ordre médicaux, psychosociaux ou d’interprétation, les autorités ont placé des personnes, dont de nombreux enfants, dans des centres de détention de la police éparpillés dans la région et inadaptés à la situation, dans l’attente que des places se libèrent.

      Certaines personnes sont maintenues depuis plus de trois mois dans des centres de détention de la police. Les conditions de vie y sont désastreuses et les services y sont limités au strict minimum. Lors d’une visite sur place, les équipes du HCR ont découvert des familles qui dormaient à même le sol dans les couloirs à côté des cellules. Dans un autre établissement, on comptait à peine un médecin et quatre infirmières pour plus de 500 personnes. Parmi les centaines de personnes maintenues dans ces conditions, on dénombre des femmes enceintes, de très jeunes enfants et des personnes qui ont besoin de soins médicaux ou d’une aide psycho-sociale.

      Nous nous réjouissons de la décision qui a permis de libérer plus de 2 500 personnes détenues par les autorités mais nous sommes préoccupés par les conditions dans lesquelles ces libérations ont été réalisées, à savoir sans vérifier la vulnérabilité des personnes concernées et sans leur fournir suffisamment d’informations au sujet de l’asile ou de leurs autres options. Leur situation doit être examinée de toute urgence afin de leur permettre l’accès à des soins et aux procédures d’asile.

      Nous saluons les efforts menés par la police et par le centre d’accueil et d’identification de Fylakio en vue de relever les défis auxquels ils sont confrontés mais, face à des ressources de plus en plus limitées, la situation est devenue intenable.

      Le HCR suggère plusieurs mesures :

      Accroître d’urgence la capacité d’accueil du centre de réception et d’identification, en y augmentant le nombre de places disponibles et en y améliorant les conditions de vie et les services ;
      Identifier des lieux de transit ouverts, vers lesquels pourront être dirigées les personnes qui arrivent d’Evros et où l’enregistrement et l’identification pourront être réalisés ;
      Mettre en place des équipes mobiles d’enregistrement et d’identification ;
      Transférer immédiatement les familles en détention vers des abris sûrs et les guider vers les services dont elles ont besoin ;
      Améliorer les conditions de vie dans les centres de la police, y compris pour des périodes de courte durée, en y assurant l’accès à des espaces communs et à des services élémentaires, notamment et en priorité des soins de santé ;
      Augmenter les capacités d’enregistrement des autorités grecques compétentes afin de garantir l’accès aux procédures d’asile et l’enregistrement des demandes en temps opportun ;
      Transférer rapidement les enfants non accompagnés vers des lieux sûrs et procéder rapidement à une évaluation de leur situation et des liens familiaux.

      Le HCR continue de fournir son appui en matière de protection au centre d’accueil et d’identification de Fylakio, et reste en contact étroit et régulier avec le gouvernement grec afin de faire face à cette situation exceptionnelle. Le HCR continuera d’aider les autorités grecques en fournissant un soutien technique et matériel, notamment des couvertures, des vêtements, des articles d’hygiène, des lampes à énergie solaire et d’autres articles non alimentaires.


      http://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/briefing/2018/4/5ae734a4a/hcr-demande-grece-dameliorer-situation-evros.html

    • La rivière Evros, point de passage des clandestins entre la Turquie à la Grèce

      Les migrants multiplient les tentatives pour passer le fleuve qui marque la frontière, en dépit de la pression exercée par les polices turque et grecque.

      Rivière tumultueuse qui marque la frontière entre la Turquie et la Grèce, à 75 kilomètres de la ville d’Edirne, en Thrace orientale, l’Evros est l’une des portes d’entrée des migrants en Europe. Si les candidats au départ prennent moins souvent les bateaux pour rejoindre l’Union européenne via les îles grecques, ils optent toujours pour la traversée de la rivière Evros, réputée – à tort, car il existe des cas de noyades – moins dangereuse que celle de la mer Egée.

      Ces passages de migrants redoublent après la décrue printanière du fleuve, comme en témoignent les sacs plastique, les vêtements abandonnés et les canots pneumatiques dégonflés qui jonchent ses berges. Ces tout derniers mois, le rythme s’est encore accéléré. Les autorités grecques faisaient état d’une moyenne de 44 arrivées par jour dans la zone en 2017. Elles sont passées à 62 en janvier et février 2018, puis à 200 les mois suivants. « En avril, nous avons enregistré 2 700 arrivées pour la région d’Evros », a déploré Dimitris Vitsas, le ministre de la politique migratoire, lors d’un débat parlementaire sur les réfugiés, mardi 24 avril.

      « Chaque jour, je vois des réfugiés. Je les croise quotidiennement dans mes champs ou le long des sentiers qui mènent au village », confirme Erdogan Adali, le chef de l’administration du village d’#Akcadam, situé à 3 kilomètres du fleuve. « Ça me fend le cœur. Ils sont dans un état pitoyable, hagards, pieds nus, affamés. Je leur donnerais volontiers le gîte et le couvert, mais c’est un délit, je ne peux pas. Dès que je les vois, je suis obligé d’alerter les gendarmes qui viennent les chercher pour les ramener au centre de rétention d’Edirne », raconte l’agriculteur au visage buriné, dont les rizières et les champs de blé jouxtent le village.

      Le reste... #paywall
      https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2018/06/05/la-riviere-evros-point-de-passage-des-clandestins-entre-la-turquie-a-la-grec

    • Greece: Asylum-Seeking Women Detained with Men. Urgently End Dangerous Detention Conditions

      Greek authorities are routinely confining asylum-seeking women with unrelated men in the northern Evros region, at the land-border with Turkey, putting them at grave risk of sexual violence and harassment. Authorities should immediately stop holding asylum-seeking women and girls in closed facilities with unrelated men.

      Human Rights Watch research in Northern Greece in late May 2018 found women and girls housed with unrelated men in sites for reception and/or detention of asylum seekers. Twelve women and two girls interviewed said they had been locked in cells or enclosures for weeks, and in one case for nearly five months, with men and boys they did not know. Four said they were the sole females confined with dozens of men, in some cases with at least one male partner or relative.

      “Women and girls should not be confined with men who are complete strangers, even for a day,” said Hillary Margolis, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These women and girls came to Greece seeking security and protection, and instead they are living in fear.”

      Five women said they had severe psychological distress as a result, including two who had suicidal thoughts. Other women and girls said they experienced sleeplessness, anxiety, and other emotional and psychological distress, in part due to fear of confinement with unrelated men.

      The Greek government has not provided authorities in northern Greece with sufficient resources to respond to a surge in arrivals over the land border with Turkey in April. Officials who met with Human Rights Watch acknowledged that the increase led to a slowdown in reception and identification procedures, including registration of asylum claims, as well as overcrowding of and lengthier stays in reception and immigration detention facilities.

      Pending completion of reception and identification procedures, newly-arrived irregular migrants and those seeking international protection are held in border police stations in the Evros region, in the Fylakio pre-removal detention center, run by the Hellenic Police, and/or in the Fylakio reception and identification center (RIC), run by the Ministry for Migration Policy. The Ministry and the Hellenic police granted Human Rights Watch access to these sites, and authorities at the pre-removal detention center and RIC helped identify female migrants in the facilities so that Human Rights Watch could approach them for interviews.

      Eight women and one of the girls said they had been held in cells with unrelated men in Fylakio pre-removal detention center, including six women who were held with unrelated men at the time of the interviews. Five women and the two girls were housed with unrelated men in pre-fabricated containers and locked, fenced-off “sections” in the Fylakio RIC at the time of the interviews. Some said they were held with unrelated men in multiple facilities.

      Two of the women said they had been at the pre-removal center in cells with their male partners and many unknown men for at least two weeks. “Maha,” a 38-year-old woman from Iraq, was visibly shaking as she described being the sole woman in a cell with about 60 men for over two weeks. Maha said she avoided drinking water due to fear of using the shared toilet inside the cell. She said that she was living almost exclusively inside an enclosure she and her partner created by hanging blankets around their bunkbed.

      “I haven’t moved my legs for 23 days,” she said in tears, demonstrating how she cowered with her knees hugged to her chest all day. “If I had a way to kill myself, I would have.”

      According to a police registry given to Human Rights Watch researchers, at the time of the interview she and her partner were held in a cell with 32 unrelated men. Maha was released days after her interview, but her partner remained in detention.

      Some women and girls said they were housed with unrelated men at the RIC for weeks or months. “Suraya,” a woman in her twenties (nationality withheld) in the RIC with her four-year-old nephew while awaiting confirmation of their family links, spent nearly five months in a section she said housed only men and unaccompanied boys. She said a fellow asylum seeker sexually assaulted her. “He started touching me while I was sleeping,” Suraya said, adding that he left when she screamed, and she reported it to authorities. “I have asked [them] to take me to a safer place here, or to another camp, but nothing has happened,” she said.

      Authorities at the pre-removal detention center said there is a separate designated cell for women traveling alone, but they also put families in that cell “if necessary,” such as during periods of overcrowding. The facility was under capacity when Human Rights Watch visited, but two single women said they were in a cell with unrelated families. Authorities in both the pre-removal detention center and the RIC acknowledged gaps in response at the facilities, which they attribute largely to a dearth of resources.

      National and European law as well as international standards require that men and women be held separately in detention, including reception and immigration detention facilities, unless they are members of the same family and consent to being held together. They also call for separating unaccompanied children from adults, and separate accommodation for families. A 2016 order issued by the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police instructs police to separate women and children from unrelated men in closed facilities.

      Greek authorities should ensure the safety and security of all asylum seekers, including by providing single women, single men, families, and unaccompanied children with separate accommodation, toilets and bathing facilities in all immigration detention sites and other closed facilities. Authorities should urgently fit all rooms, bathrooms, and containers in RICs with locking doors to facilitate security and privacy.

      When necessary, authorities should urgently transfer single women, unaccompanied and separated children, and families including couples in immigration detention to accommodation or facilities that meet these standards. Authorities should also ensure that asylum seekers have a safe and confidential means to report sexual harassment or assault, and that such reports are promptly investigated, those responsible are appropriately punished, and immediate measures are taken to ensure victims’ safety and well-being.

      “Women and girls in these sites are overcome by fear from being locked up with men who are complete strangers,” Margolis said. “Greek authorities need to put an urgent stop to this, and grant them the security, privacy and dignity they deserve.”

      Accounts from asylum seekers in Fylakio pre-removal detention center and the reception and identification center (RIC) in Fylakio, Greece:

      Fatima (all names have been changed), 24, from Algeria, who had been at the pre-removal center with her husband for 20 days: “For 20 days I have been the only woman [in our cell]. The others are all single men. I had difficulty at the beginning. I sleep at night covered in a blanket. One night a man [in the cell] came and lifted the blanket and was looking at me. When I go to take a bath, the men come and try to look over the wall…. I am very stressed…. I feel like I have reached the bottom. I feel like I am broken.”

      Suha, 20, from Morocco, who had been in the Fylakio pre-removal detention center with her husband for two weeks. At the time of the interview, they were in a cell alone, but they had previously been in the same center for two weeks in a cell with mostly men: “There were two other girls and 60 to 70 men [in the cell] … I was fighting for myself every day … The worst time was when I would go to the toilet. All of them would follow me with their eyes, say things. Some men, when they see a woman they act like animals. They would call out to me, ‘Stand up, stop here, let us look at you, you’re beautiful.’ The toilets are mixed [for men and women.] The bath is the same. There is no lock on the door. If you sit, they can’t see you [over the wall]. But if you stand they can see you from the chest up. Imagine being a woman in those conditions.”

      Samira, 18, from Syria, who had been in the RIC with her 15-year-old sister for three weeks: “Since I’ve been here I’m unable to eat. I’m very stressed. I can’t leave my sister, I have to take care of her…. I’m constantly afraid that someone will enter our container. I don’t sleep at night – I stay awake during the day and sleep in the morning… I only shower once every two weeks because I feel like people are watching me [in the bathroom] … I wake up every morning at 3 a.m. feeling scared and nervous.”

      Nada, 16, from Syria, who had been in the RIC with her older brother and sister for nearly two months: “We’re the only family in our section, it’s all single men. The only women are me and my sister. Everyone is afraid here. There are more than 20 men [or unaccompanied boys] living in our section…. At first, we were 20 people in the [same] container, but they have all left. It was mixed men and women. We didn’t feel safe and couldn’t sleep. We stayed up all night…. We shared the toilet with strangers. I used to take my sister with me and ask her to wait at the door.”

      Nadir, 21, from Syria, who had been in the RIC for 20 days with his 6-year-old niece, Abra, whose mother became separated from them during the crossing from Turkey to Greece: “We are in the same container with two families…. The doors don’t lock…. The families staying with us are Iraqi Kurds. We can’t communicate with them – how can we feel safe? It is not a question of nationality, it is just that they are strangers. I can’t leave [Abra] alone. If she wants to go outside, I go outside; if she wants to go to the toilet, I go with her. There are single men [or unaccompanied boys]. If you come at night around 10 p.m. you will hear the noises they make [yelling] and understand why we don’t feel safe.”

      Abbas, 35, from Iran, who had arrived at the Fylakio pre-removal detention center with his wife, 36 the previous day: “When we reached here, [the police] said, ‘You have to be separated [from your wife].’ I said, ‘No, we can’t be separated, we are a couple.’ Then the police said, ‘If you don’t separate, you’ll both have to go to the room with all the men.’ My wife was shocked and started crying. She was really scared. I said, ‘Okay, let’s separate.’ I kissed her, said goodbye, and they put her in another room and me in the room with all the men.” Eventually, he said, the police brought his wife to a cell opposite his and then put them together in that cell, along with unrelated families.

      Additional Information on Combined Detention of Women and Men

      In interviews with twelve women and two girls from May 19 to 24, eight women and one girl said they had been held in cells with unrelated men in Fylakio pre-removal detention center, including six women who were held with unrelated men at the time of the interviews.

      Women at the pre-removal center said that combined toilet and bathing stalls in cells they shared with men did not have floor-to-ceiling walls, and they were harassed by male cellmates while using them. One 24-year-old woman, in a cell with her husband and 20 single men, said men attempted to watch her over the wall while she used the toilet.

      Six women and two girls told Human Rights Watch they were also housed with unrelated men at the RIC, sometimes for weeks or months, in pre-fabricated containers and “sections,” which are fenced-in, locked enclosures containing a courtyard and multiple containers housing migrants and asylum seekers. Five women and two girls were being held with unrelated men and/or boys at the time of their interviews at the Fylakio RIC.

      Assignment to sections is based primarily on nationality. Awaiting confirmation of age, placement in designated accommodation, or establishment of family links to other asylum seekers can result in lengthy stays for unaccompanied or separated children and their non-immediate family members.

      Two unrelated girls, ages 15 and 16, each said they had been in these sections in the RIC with unrelated adult men and/or boys for over three weeks; one said she and her 30-year-old sister had been the only females in a section with 20 men and/or boys for about 45 days. One 19-year-old pregnant woman who was there with her husband and in-laws said her container housed multiple unrelated families in one shared room.

      Some women and girls, as well as a man with his 6-year-old niece, said they and their family members live in rooms inside containers shared with unrelated families including men or boys. In all cases, they said they share toilets and bathing facilities with men and/or boys, and that no containers or bedrooms have locking doors.

      Detention of Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Greece

      Under Greek law, authorities may restrict the movement of new arrivals for up to 25 days at a reception and identification center (RIC) and up to a total of six months in immigration detention, including at pre-removal centers. Unaccompanied and separated children may be held longer pending resolution of their cases and reunification with family members, particularly when age or family links are in question, or pending available space in designated sites with protected areas or shelters.

      Upon arrival in the Evros region in northern Greece, where the land-border with Turkey is located, irregular migrants and those seeking international protection are held in border police stations, a pre-removal detention center, and/or a RIC, pending completion of reception and identification procedures. Following these procedures, new arrivals may be detained for processing or assessment of their asylum claim, or for deportation.

      While the increase in arrivals in April temporarily strained asylum identification, registration, and accommodation services in Northern Greece and the Evros region, authorities are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of asylum seekers throughout registration and identification processes. Increased arrivals do not justify the Greek government’s failure to protect women and girls, or to allow dangerous conditions to persist even after arrivals have decreased.

      During Human Rights Watch visits to sites in the Thessaloniki area and in Evros, authorities said that arrivals had returned to a normal range over the previous two weeks. On May 19, authorities at Fylakio pre-removal detention center said the site has a capacity of 374 and was housing only 172 people. On May 21, authorities at the RIC, which has a capacity of 240, said it was housing 196. Nevertheless, Human Rights Watch found women and girls being held with unrelated men and boys.

      On June 1, following an April ad hoc visit to Greece, the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment reported the detention of men, women, and children together in a single cell at the Fylakio pre-removal center, consistent with the Human Rights Watch findings in May.

      Authorities said they give priority to members of “vulnerable” groups for registration, processing, and transfer to appropriate accommodation. Under Greek law this includes unaccompanied or separated children, people with disabilities, pregnant women and new mothers, single parents with minor children, and victims of sexual violence, torture or other severe psychological or physical trauma. The authorities acknowledged that unaccompanied or separated children – and sometimes their family members – may be accommodated for lengthy periods in the RIC due to limited spaces in designated “safe” facilities and lengthy processes for verifying family links.

      The Greek government’s failure to accommodate men, women, and children separately in immigration detention is a longstanding problem, including in Evros. The European Court of Human Rights and multiple other international human rights bodies have criticized inhumane and degrading conditions in Greek immigration detention facilities, including failure to separate women and children from unrelated men. Human Rights Watch has previously documented violence, insecurity, sexual harassment, and unhygienic and unsanitary conditions in facilities for registration, identification, and processing of asylum seekers on the Greek islands, or “hotspots.” Human Rights Watch has also found women traveling alone housed with unrelated men in island hotspots.


      https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/07/greece-asylum-seeking-women-detained-men

      #Fylakio #femmes #violences_sexuelles #harcèlement_sexuel

    • Greek Authorities’ Struggle to Identify Dead Evros Migrants

      The worsening humanitarian situation on Greece’s land border with Turkey, is drawing international media attention.

      As the local authorities also face the challenge of identifying the bodies they recover from the frontier river, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has already called on the Greek government to urgently improve conditions and expand reception capacity in the north east.

      This follows a recent rise in arrivals in the Evros area across the land border with Turkey.

      In one report, Britain’s BBC investigates how people fleeing from Iraq and Syria as well as other countries like Iran and Afghanistan, put themselves at risk while trying to cross the dangerous waters of the Evros.

      The BBC dispatch covers the work of local people like Professor Pavlos Pavlidis of the Alexandroupoli State Hospital. A forensic surgeon, he has built up a huge database of photos, personal items and DNA samples taken from unidentified people who have perished while crossing into Greece.

      Sometimes, his work allows for a victim to be identified: “It gives an answer, even if it is a sad answer,” he says.

      http://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/05/01/greek-authorities-struggle-to-identify-dead-evros-migrants
      #cadavres #morts #identification #corps #décès #mourir_aux_frontières

    • Unprepared and overwhelmed: Greece’s resurgent river border with Turkey. When an old migration route became new again, the Evros region was caught on the back foot.

      Locals in Evros are used to new faces. People have been quietly slipping across the river that forms a natural barrier for all but 12 kilometres of the tense, militarised border between Greece and Turkey since Greece joined the European Union in 1981.

      But everyone on the Evros River was puzzled when a crush of hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers began crossing their sleepy riverine border every day in March. Six months later, arrivals have slowed but worries persist that the region is still poorly prepared for any new influx.

      At the rush’s height in April, more than 3,600 crossed the river in one month, surpassing the total number of people arriving in Greece by sea for the first time since 2012. They came across the Evros on plastic dinghies, and once on Greek soil they were picked up by smugglers in cars or continued the journey by foot. The banks of the river were littered with discarded clothes, water bottles, food and medicine packages, and flotation devices, which remain there today.

      Despite its history of migration, Evros, one of Greece’s poorest regions, was caught off guard. Hundreds of new arrivals were crammed into police stations, waiting for months to lodge their asylum claims. There were no NGOs to help out. Conditions were dismal, and services limited.

      “We are all surprised with the rise in arrivals in Evros, and the lack of Greek preparation,” said Georgia Spyropoulou, an advocacy officer with the Hellenic League for Human Rights, from her office in Athens.

      Greek officials say they were caught unawares too, with a local police commissioner telling the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in June that “it is necessary to be prepared in case there is an increase in arrivals again.” Still, local police insisted they were doing the best they could with the resources available to them.

      No one is quite sure what prompted the flood of people in the first place. And plenty of of people are still making their way to Evros – 9,480 by the end of July, taking a gamble on a border that looks safe but can be deadly – 29 people have died this year during the crossing or shortly after.
      Border police and barn doors

      Before 2012, and before millions of people began landing on Europe’s beaches and drowning in the Mediterranean, Evros (known as the Meriç River in Turkish) was the main crossing point for those hoping to make it into Europe through Greece.

      Amidst mounting pressure from other EU countries to further seal its borders (Austria’s interior minister famously said Greece was “open like a barn door”), Athens launched Operation Aspida (“Shield”) in 2012, deploying 1,800 more police officers and erecting a fence on the land portion of the border, adding to a 175-strong rapid border intervention team known as RABIT – set up in 2010 with the help of Frontex, the EU border agency.

      Those who made it alive to the Greek banks of the Evros this year found a system wholly unprepared for their arrival.

      The new measures worked, and by November 2012 migrant arrivals had dwindled to none – a remarkable decrease from 6,500 in August that year.

      Athens denies reports of pushbacks of asylum seekers, but human rights watchdogs have documented collective expulsions in which people are forced back into Turkey after already crossing the river, and the UN has also raised concerns.

      Despite the crackdown, the numbers began to creep up again slowly this March. And then the spring rush came.
      Understaffed and unprepared

      Those who made it alive to the Greek banks of the Evros this year found a system wholly unprepared for their arrival.

      The procedure is supposed to be simple: new arrivals are brought to “pre-removal detention centres” run by the Hellenic police, where they wait for no more than seven days to be fingerprinted and have their asylum claims registered at the region’s one official Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) in the small village of Fylakio.

      But it proved to be anything but.

      The RIC was understaffed and overwhelmed by the numbers, causing the sorts of major delays in processing that have plagued the reception system on the Greek islands.

      In a scathing review of Evros in the springtime, UNHCR criticised the detention of new arrivals in sub-standard police facilities. Human Rights Watch also found troubling conditions in May: women and girls were being held with unrelated men. One woman told the watchdog she was sexually assaulted by a fellow asylum seeker; her requests to be transferred to another location were ignored.

      After asylum seekers’ claims are processed, they are moved to the RIC itself, which has a 240-person capacity.

      Unlike on the Greek islands and its controversial policy of containment, people in Evros are allowed to move about the country. After applying for asylum, most head to other government- or UN-run camps elsewhere in the country. Still, even the RIC facility quickly became overrun as unaccompanied minors and those likely to have their asylum claims rejected had to stay on.
      Improvements

      When IRIN visited Fylakio in July, it found the RIC camp no longer overcrowded, and newly arrived asylum seekers expressed relief at being out of the pre-removal detention centre. “That was a very bad place,” one Turkish arrival said, declining to elaborate.

      IRIN was not granted access to the nearby pre-removal detention centre. But despite Greek police releasing many migrants from police detention, a HRW report from July said conditions in Fylakio remained “inhumane”, describing “dark, dank cells, with overpowering odours in the corridors”, a lack of toilets and locked doors, and insufficient healthcare.

      There have been some improvements for those out of their first detention, and NGOs have arrived to help: ARISIS, a Greek non-governmental organisation that provides social support for minors, had recently set up a makeshift office, and Médecins Sans Frontières has now established a permanent outpost in Fylakio.

      But one RIC employee said they remain understaffed. “We have the experience and motivation to manage the situation,” but not the manpower, the employee said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

      Staff work in two shifts. When IRIN visited, the centre’s director was on sick leave, and there were still no doctors on staff, and only three nurses.

      In one crowded container at the RIC centre, an Iraqi family was living alongside the body of a dog that had died the previous week – its body still hadn’t been removed, and the stench lingered. The mother was concerned for the health of her infant, who was in hospital. Because members of the family, including the mother, are minors, they are currently stuck in limbo, waiting at the RIC.

      Communication remains a constant issue. There are no official, permanent translators and the overwhelming majority of the centre’s staff only speaks English or Greek.

      “There are asylum seekers who are interpreting for other asylum seekers… [which is] completely inappropriate,” Eva Cosse, Western Europe researcher for HRW, told IRIN.
      What’s next?

      Months after the springtime surge at Evros, there is still confusion about what caused it – and if there’s any way to predict if the same thing might happen again. Everyone, it seems, has a theory.

      “The waves of migration increase in populations when there are serious issues in the country of origin,” Nikolaos Menexidis, the barrel-chested police major general of Western Thrace, told IRIN from his headquarters in the town of Kommini. “When Turkey created the latest issues in Afrin, we saw a rise in numbers.”

      It’s true that following Turkey’s assault on the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin – militias supported by Ankara took control in March – the majority of those recorded crossing in the spring were Syrian Kurds and Iraqis.

      But that doesn’t explain the drop in other nationalities who have long used the river crossing, like asylum seekers from Pakistan, countered Dimitros Koros, a lawyer with the Greek Council of Refugees.

      Some people may be driven by politics – Turks who had fled and made it to the RIC in Fylakio said they had been wrongly accused of terrorist activity at home or suspected of ties to the Gulen movement, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for the 2016 attempted coup in his country. Others may have just heard there was a chance to make it to Europe at the river.

      Whatever the reason for the surge, migrants and asylum seekers people will likely continue to take their chances on the way to Greece. And Koros, the lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees, worries that new arrivals will continue to struggle, as they move away from the squalid conditions at the border itself and into a wider region unequipped to help.

      “Evros is not just the border,” he said. “Evros is here in Thessaloniki. They are here, homeless, without any provision of service.”

      http://www.irinnews.org/news-feature/2018/09/27/unprepared-and-overwhelmed-greece-s-resurgent-river-border-turkey

    • An open secret: Refugee pushbacks across the Turkey-Greece border

      On an eastern frontier of the European Union, people are whisked back to Turkey before they can claim asylum in Greece.

      Linda, a 19-year-old Syrian and registered refugee, had just crossed from Turkey into Greece at the Evros River when men carrying guns appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. She wasn’t sure if they were police officers or soldiers, but they emerged from behind trees and wore dark uniforms that helped them blend into the night.

      It was mid-May, and several hours earlier Linda had boarded a mini-bus in Istanbul with around 35 other people, including children and a pregnant woman, eager to enter European Union territory. The trip had been organised by smugglers, and the passengers ended up in a remote area close to the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne. At around three in the morning they boarded small boats that ferried them across the river.

      Linda’s plan was to get into Greece, then make her way to Denmark, where her fiancé lives. Her crossing was part of a sharp uptick in traffic into the EU via the Evros (known as the Meriç in Turkish) this spring; 3,600 people are known to have crossed in April alone, compared to just over 1,000 in all of 2013.

      But she didn’t make it more than a few steps into EU territory before she was stopped.

      The men demanded that everyone in the group hand over their mobile phones. “Then they beat the men who were with us, put us in a boat, and sent us back to the Turkish side of the border,” Linda recalled when she spoke to IRIN recently in Istanbul.

      Pushbacks like the one Linda experienced have been going on for years, documented by both human rights watchdogs and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. They are also illegal under European and international law.

      “The right to claim and enjoy asylum is a fundamental human right," Leo Dobbs, a UNHCR spokesman in Greece, told IRIN. Pushbacks at the Evros border, he added, are a “serious issue.”

      According to a report released by the Greek Council for Refugees in February, before the spring rush, pushbacks have increased to the point of being “systematic” as the number of people crossing the Evros has grown slowly in the past two years.

      The Evros River border between Turkey and Greece is one of the easternmost frontiers of the European Union. Until a fence went up on all but 12 kilometres of the Evros in 2012, it was the easiest and safest path for asylum seekers from the Middle East and elsewhere to reach Europe, and nearly 55,000 people crossed the border irregularly in 2011.

      A controversial 2016 EU-Turkey deal that paved the way for asylum seekers to be returned from the Greek Islands to Turkey (which it deems safe under the terms of that agreement), does not apply to the Evros border. Instead, there is a separate, largely ineffective bilateral readmission agreement dating from 2002 that was suspended earlier this year.

      Even under the terms of that agreement, pushbacks like the one Linda experienced violate European and international laws on refugee protection, which require states to allow asylum seekers to file for protection and prohibit sending them back to countries where they may face danger. While countries are allowed to protect their borders, they cannot legally return people who have already crossed without first evaluating their claims.

      Pushbacks may be illegal, but they are an open secret. “It’s something that everybody knows,” said Dimitris Koros, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees. Now, when an asylum seeker enters Greece from the land border, “the first thing you encounter is the possibility of being pushed back,” he added.

      The Greek Ministry for Migration Policy did not respond to IRIN’s requests for comment, but the Greek government has repeatedly denied it is engaged in systematic pushbacks.

      Human rights organisations say they have raised the issue of responsibility with the Greek government multiple times without receiving a response. “It’s a difficult thing… to say that the government instructs or gives orders to the policemen to do it,” Konstantinos Tsitselikis, a human rights law professor and former director of the Hellenic League for Human Rights said, “but they have the knowledge and they tolerate it at least.”

      It’s unclear just how many people have been pushed back or who is responsible, because the area around the border is a closed military zone and there aren’t many NGOs working in the region.

      Meanwhile on the Turkish side of the river, security forces regularly apprehend people attempting to cross and transfer them to government-run detention centres. But amidst a pervasive atmosphere of fear and silence, the treatment of asylum seekers and migrants after they are pushed back and detained largely remains a mystery.
      A longstanding practice

      According to Tsitselikis, pushbacks have been happening for decades.

      “I used to do my military service in 1996-97 in the Evros border area,” he told IRIN. “Even then the Greek authorities were doing pushbacks every day.”

      Although the border is technically a military zone, these days border police patrol the frontier as well as personnel from the EU border control agency, Frontex.

      People who have been pushed back, including Linda, describe being met by security forces wearing different types of uniforms, but it’s tough to assign responsibility.

      “Since it takes place outside of the public eye, we don’t really understand who is responsible,” Koros, from the Greek Council for Refugees, said.

      When asked about the practice by IRIN, Nikolaos Menexidis, police major general of Western Thrace, the Greek region that borders Turkey, said Hellenic police always follow the proper procedures when dealing with migrants.

      Menexidis said his forces have been working with Turkish police for the past six years on what he calls “technical issues.” They primarily exchange information on stopping smugglers on both sides of the border, he said.

      After pushback

      Linda’s ordeal did not end when she was pushed back into Turkey. The smugglers who brought her group to the border were gone and so was the bus. Without phones to call for help, the group was stuck. After waiting several hours, they tried to cross again.

      This time they made it further, walking for five or six hours in Greek territory before they were stopped, taken to a detention centre, and placed in a room with people from many different countries.

      After being held for several more hours, they were driven back to the border, the men were beaten again, and they were all forced back to the Turkish side of the river. By that point, the group was exhausted and thirsty. “For two days we didn’t drink water. When we saw the river we drank from it,” Linda said. “There were people who got sick because the water was dirty.”

      A group of Turkish soldiers found them in the woods and brought them food, water, and milk for the children and pointed them in the direction of Edirne, where they arranged for taxis to bring them back to Istanbul.

      In a way, Linda was lucky. Last December, the Greek Council for Refugees documented the case of a Pakistani man who died of hypothermia after being forcibly returned to Turkey. He had fallen into the cold water on the way back.

      While the Evros is no more than a few metres wide, its current is deceptively strong and, according to records in Greece, at least 29 people this year have died while trying to cross the water or shortly after.

      Some who are forced back to Turkey face serious punishment. Since a failed military coup in 2016, the Turkish government has jailed tens of thousands of opponents, leading to an increase in the number of Turks fleeing to Greece to seek asylum – nearly 2,000 in 2017 compared to just 180 the year before. The Hellenic League for Human Rights has documented two cases of Turks being pushed back from Greece at the Evros and later being imprisoned in Turkey, including journalist Murat Çapan, who is now serving a 22.5 year sentence for “participating in a terrorist organization and attempting to overthrow the constitution”.

      Despite documentation, human rights advocates say they have struggled to bring attention to the issue of pushbacks, as EU and international policymakers focus on stemming Mediterranean crossings. There is little appetite in Europe at the moment for monitoring or changing policies that are keeping asylum seekers and migrants from entering the EU.

      “Both the European Union and the Greek government... prefer not to open this discussion, especially in this political environment,” Tsitselikis said, referring to the rise of right-wing, anti-migration politics in Europe that is shaking the foundations of the EU.
      Fear and silence

      In early June, about a 10-minute drive from Edirne, hundreds of people in the parking lot of what the Turkish government calls a “migrant removal centre” huddled under tin pavilions that offered shade from the afternoon sun. This is where those caught on the Turkish side of the river are brought.

      IRIN visited three times over the course of a week to try to gain access, but never received a response to our requests.

      The centre is surrounded by a low wall topped with a chain-link fence and spools of razor wire. Each time IRIN visited, there were hundreds of people – mostly men, but also women and small children – in the parking lot and white vans passed in and out of the metal gate depositing more people. Two large charter buses idled in the parking lot with their doors open, seemingly waiting for people to board.

      In close to a week spent at the border, there was no concrete evidence of what was happening inside the centre. There were hints and rumours, but no one wanted to speak on record – including Turkish organisations that work with asylum seekers – because of the sensitivity of the issue.

      It is simply not clear how long people are kept in the centre, or what happens to them when they are removed. The Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management responded to IRIN’s requests for comment with links to online statistics and Turkish law on removals.

      Several Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers that IRIN spoke to shared stories of being held in such centres for a period of time before being released inside Turkey and permitted to stay. Most of the people IRIN spoke to reported good treatment while inside.

      But in 2015 and 2016, Amnesty International documented cases of Syrians detained while trying to migrate to Europe and being deported to Syria, according to Anna Shea, an Amnesty researcher working on refugee and migrant rights.

      Amnesty has also recently documented a case of a Syrian asylum seeker stopped in Edirne being deported to Idlib, the rebel-held province in northwestern Syria where a ceasefire is so far holding off a government offensive but humanitarians warn conditions are still dire. It is unclear if the case is part of a larger trend.

      In recent months, Turkey has deported large numbers of Afghans and Syrians, stopped after crossing Turkey’s southern and eastern borders, back to their respective countries.

      But it is difficult to know if this practice has been extended to people who have tried to travel to Greece, given that the organisations working on migrant and refugee rights were unwilling to speak on the record, and the government declined to comment on the issue or allow access to detained migrants.

      “The total stonewalling and lack of information and complete lack of transparency is cause for concern in and of itself,” said Shea, the Amnesty researcher. “I mean, what do they have to hide?”

      Hidden practice

      At a small village outside of Edirne, a man herding goats pointed to places where people crossed the nearby river, but there was no sign of anyone during the day. Crossings happened only at night, he said. And the Turkish army prohibited people from approaching the river after 7 pm.

      The road leading from the village followed the winding course of the Evros, which was often blocked from view by thick stands of trees. The surrounding area was full of corn fields, rice paddies, and thick vegetation. Small dirt roads that shot off in the direction of the river were marked with red signs carrying a stencilled soldier – a warning that entry beyond that point was prohibited.

      Not far away, in the city centre, everyone seemed shocked to learn that so many people had crossed the border this year. It was a problem that most locals assumed was already in the past, given that most of the frontier had been lined with barbed wire and cameras for the past six years.

      But those who have tried and failed to cross the Evros know that the rural quiet harbours dangers the eye can’t see.

      Linda has given up on seeing her fiancé anytime soon – a visa is likely to take years – and she isn’t planning on trying to cross the border again. “I started being afraid because of the things I saw,” she said.


      https://www.irinnews.org/special-report/2018/10/08/refugee-pushbacks-across-turkey-greece-border-Evros
      #push-back #refoulement

    • Grèce : le mystère des trois migrantes retrouvées égorgées

      Les corps des trois femmes avaient été découverts le 10 octobre par un agriculteur dans un champ près du fleuve Evros.

      Trois migrantes retrouvées mortes début octobre près du fleuve Evros à la frontière gréco-turque au nord de la Grèce ont été identifiées. Selon la police, il s’agit d’une mère et ses deux filles. Elles ont été égorgées après avoir été entravées.

      Le mode d’exécution pose questions aux enquêteurs, qui privilégient la piste criminelle depuis la découverte des corps en octobre dernier. « Des femmes contraintes à s’agenouiller avant d’être égorgées, pourrait évoquer une action de type djihadiste, mais dans l’immédiat, la police n’exclut ni ne privilégie aucune piste », explique une source policière.

      L’hypothèse d’une « punition » infligée par un réseau de passeurs a aussi été avancée par les médias grecs. L’affaire « est sans précédent dans les annales du pays, c’est un mystère », a relevé la même source policière.


      http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/grece-le-mystere-des-trois-migrantes-retrouvees-egorgees-26-10-2018-79291

    • Le fleuve Évros, cimetière des migrants anonymes

      Ce fleuve boueux, aux courants dangereux et à la profondeur traîtresse, tue et recrache régulièrement des corps quasi impossibles à identifier.

      Bloqué en Turquie, Mustafa a d’abord tenté d’atteindre la Bulgarie par la voie terrestre avec un groupe de migrants afghans. Mais une fois la frontière passée, la police bulgare les a interceptés avant de les renvoyer en Turquie, où ils ont été emprisonnés dans le centre de détention d’Edirne pendant trois mois. Quelques semaines après sa libération, au milieu de l’été 2014, Mustafa a demandé à sa famille restée en Afghanistan, d’envoyer de l’argent à un passeur qui avait promis de l’emmener en Bulgarie – mais cette fois-ci en passant par la Grèce.

      Les cinq jeunes hommes de son nouveau groupe ont alors dû se cotiser pour financer le bateau gonflable qui leur servirait à franchir à deux reprises l’Évros, un fleuve de 480 kilomètres de long qui marque la frontière greco-turque, mais aussi une partie de la frontière entre la Grèce et la Bulgarie.

      La route migratoire qui consiste à traverser l’Évros, fréquemment empruntée depuis les années 1990, est redevenue populaire après l’accord UE-Turquie signé en 2016 visant à limiter les arrivées de migrants dans les îles Grecques via la mer Méditerranée. Cette route a longtemps semblé préférable à emprunter la Méditerranée pour atteindre la Grèce. Mais ce fleuve boueux, aux courants dangereux et à la profondeur traîtresse, car variable, tue et recrache régulièrement des corps quasi impossibles à identifier.

      C’est dans la région grecque de l’Évros que l’on trouve le plus grand nombre de corps de migrants non identifiés en Grèce. À cela s’ajoutent les corps retrouvés du côté turc de l’Évros, et aussi en Bulgarie. À Évros, les employés de la morgue de l’hôpital d’Alexandroúpoli, aidés par le Comité International de la Croix Rouge, tentent d’identifier les corps pour aider les familles qui recherchent un proche disparu.

      Mais tout ça, Mustafa ne le sait pas. Le passeur a acheté un bateau « pour les petits bébés » et « à peine plus grand qu’un lit », se rappelle aujourd’hui Mustafa. En pleine nuit, le groupe trouve un coin où la végétation est assez dense pour les dissimuler. Puis, le passeur et les six Afghans gonflent et s’entassent sur la petite embarcation.

      « Les courants étaient trop rapides pour nager, » explique Mustafa à VICE News. « On a eu peur de mourir [...], que le bateau coule et que des poissons, comme des piranhas, nous mangent. » Le groupe traverse finalement la frontière entre la Turquie et la Grèce, en 20 minutes. « On a ensuite récupéré le bateau, car le passeur a dit qu’on en aurait encore besoin, » raconte Mustafa, sa voix douce, mais anxieuse en harmonie avec son visage triste et enfantin.

      En effet, après avoir marché environ deux jours, Mustafa se retrouve face à la même rivière, qu’il doit traverser pour atteindre la Bulgarie. Il fait noir et les branches sous l’eau percent l’embarcation de fortune. Rapidement, Mustafa se débarrasse de son sac à dos pour pouvoir nager. Il s’accroche à des branches, parvient à sortir de l’eau et retrouve le passeur et trois autres camarades. Mais deux des migrants, des jeunes qui n’avaient pas plus de 20 ans, ne sont pas là.

      Objets retrouvés avec les corps de migrants et réfugiés à Évros. Morgue de l’hôpital général de l’université d’Alexandroúpolis, Grèce. Juillet 2017. (Photo de Stylianos Papardelas)

      « Le bateau a coulé, on n’a pas vu ce qu’il s’est passé, mais ensuite, ils avaient disparu, » raconte doucement Mustafa. « On ne les a pas retrouvés. » Après trois jours de marche et une semaine passée au camp de Hamanli, Mustafa est emprisonné dans le centre de détention de Busmantsi près de Sofia. Puis, après encore des semaines de voyage, il atteindra Paris, où il n’a toujours pas réussi à obtenir l’asile et espère faire venir sa femme et ses trois enfants.

      Les deux camarades de voyage de Mustafa ont sans doute rejoint les centaines de victimes de l’Évros, dont les corps, retenus au fond du fleuve par la boue et les branches, sont souvent retrouvés des mois, voire des années, après leur disparition.

      Poppi Lazaridou, assistante à la morgue de l’hôpital général de l’université d’Alexandroúpolis, raconte l’histoire tragique d’une famille afghane. Grèce. Juillet 2017. (Vidéo produite par Christopher Nicholas/Fragkiska Megaloudi/CICR)

      Selon les données communiquées par le CICR, 352 corps ont été découverts entre 2000 et 2017 dans la région de l’Évros, qui borde le fleuve du côté grec. Seuls 105 ont été identifiés. Entre janvier et mai 2017, 841 personnes ont été arrêtées à Évros en essayant de traverser la frontière (contre 1 638 pour la même période en 2016).

      « Mais peut-être qu’il y a plus de corps que nous n’avons pas encore trouvés, » dit le docteur Pavlos Pavlidis, médecin légiste à l’hôpital général de l’université d’Alexandroúpoli (Grèce). De plus, ces chiffres n’incluent pas les corps retrouvés en Turquie et en Bulgarie. « Je pense que les chiffres [pour la Turquie] sont à peu près les mêmes que du côté grec, » ajoute-t-il, lors d’une interview réalisée par le CICR.

      D’après Pavlidis, la première cause de décès des migrants dans la région, ce sont les noyades. Jusqu’en 2008, la deuxième cause de décès, c’était les mines, disséminées le long de la frontière et retirées cette année-là. Après les opérations de déminage, l’hypothermie a pris la seconde place sur la liste.

      « Quand tu sors de la rivière et que tu es mouillé, tu t’assois dans tes habits trempés, et tu commences à te sentir endormi, et tu meurs d’hypothermie, » explique Pavlidis. « Ils sombrent en fait dans un sommeil profond, ils ne souffrent pas... Ils ne se réveillent jamais. »

      Les passeurs ne laissent pas les migrants emporter leurs sacs sur les embarcations. Ils portent donc beaucoup de couches de vêtements sur eux, explique Pavlidis. Quand le bateau chavire, le poids attire les personnes vers le fond. « Il est impossible de survivre, mais en plus les corps restent sous l’eau et on ne peut pas les récupérer, » dit-il. « Nous avions un cas où la personne a été retrouvée portant quatre pantalons et sept chemises. »

      Il y a quelques années, la plupart des victimes étaient principalement des hommes seuls fuyant l’Afghanistan, le Pakistan ou le Bangladesh, d’après les observations de Pavlidis. Mais depuis la guerre en Syrie, les familles syriennes ont rejoint le groupe. « Maintenant, on va avoir des enfants, des femmes, des grands-pères. » (Selon le CICR, le nombre de familles a récemment recommencé à diminuer.)

      Les corps sont retrouvés par Frontex, la police, l’armée ou par des chasseurs et des pêcheurs, explique Pavlidis. Ils sont souvent dans un état de décomposition avancée, ou mangés par les poissons. Lorsqu’on lui ramène un corps, le médecin enregistre les habits et effets personnels. Ces objets, qu’il collecte depuis environ 15 ans, sont essentiels à la reconnaissance des corps.

      Le docteur Pavlos Pavlidis, médecin légiste et pathologiste, montre et parle des objets retrouvés avec les corps de migrants et réfugiés, à la morgue de l’hôpital général de l’université d’Alexandroúpolis, Grèce. Juillet 2017. (Vidéo produite par Christopher Nicholas/Fragkiska Megaloudi/CICR)

      Puis son équipe procède à une autopsie. Ils prélèvent ensuite un échantillon ADN et l’envoient au laboratoire de la police à Athènes. Si l’échantillon correspond à un profil existant, ils collaborent avec la Croix Rouge Internationale. Et, si quelqu’un recherche un proche qui a traversé l’Évros à cette période, ils poursuivent le processus d’identification.

      Si aucune recherche n’est entamée, les corps quittent la morgue après trois à quatre mois, et sont enterrés dans l’un des trois cimetières musulmans des alentours. La position et le numéro de leur tombe sont archivés afin qu’ils puissent être retrouvés par des proches dans le futur.

      « Nous avons plusieurs recherches fructueuses, mais pas tant que ça, car c’est un procédé très complexe et long, » explique Jan Bikker à VICE News. En tant que médecin légiste du CICR à Athènes, son travail consiste en partie à tenter de retrouver les familles des défunts si le gouvernement grec n’a pas réussi à le faire.

      « Ce n’est pas toujours aussi simple que ça en a l’air : on retrouve des papiers d’identité, mais nous ne sommes jamais sûrs que ce soit la bonne personne, » dit-il. « En effet, les papiers peuvent être faux ou une personne peut être enregistrée sous différents noms, ou porter les papiers de quelqu’un d’autre.

      L’équipe de Bikker aide aussi les familles ayant contacté le CICR à retrouver le corps de leurs proches et à produire un échantillon d’ADN pour procéder à l’identification. Cet échantillon est nécessaire à identifier un corps en trop mauvais état.

      Ce travail est difficile pour plusieurs raisons : les familles peuvent vivre dans des zones de conflits ; être des personnes déplacées ; résider illégalement dans un pays ; ou risquer l’emprisonnement si leur gouvernent apprend que leur proche a quitté le pays.

      « Normalement, nous collectons les informations descriptives qui pourraient nous donner une première piste. Une fois que nous avons une idée et une correspondance possible avec un corps, nous tentons de travailler avec [les proches des disparus] et les autorités pour obtenir l’ADN. »

      Une fois le corps identifié, les familles décident, en fonction de leurs moyens, si elles souhaitent rapatrier le corps dans leur pays d’origine.

      « Nous espérons qu’un cadre légal sera mis en place en Grèce [...] pour la centralisation des informations descriptives dans une base de données centrale avec toutes les informations sur les personnes disparues et les corps non identifiés, » explique Bikker.

      Comme l’explique Fragkiska Megaloudi, chargée de communication au CICR à Athènes, l’identification des morts est de la responsabilité de l’État grec. Le CICR est la seule association aidant l’État grec pour le médico-légal et prend le relais pour les identifications difficiles.

      L’association se charge aussi d’instruire les gardes côtiers grecs sur la manière de gérer dignement les corps, fournit du matériel à l’équipe du docteur Pavlidis, et améliore les cimetières accueillant les migrants et réfugiés.

      « Nous aidons à améliorer et à marquer les tombes, comme ça, si nous trouvons la famille, ils peuvent revenir et trouver la tombe de la personne. Sinon ils ne peuvent pas tourner la page, » dit-elle.

      « Nous reconstruisons de petites histoires autour de ces personnes, mais nous ne savons jamais qui elles étaient, leurs noms, ce qu’elles pensaient, leurs espoirs, leurs rêves... Et elles sont juste mortes ici » dit Megaloudi, émue. « C’est le côté le plus tragique de la crise migratoire. »

      Des agriculteurs d’Évros racontent leurs rencontres avec des migrants et réfugiés de passage à Évros. Grèce. Juillet 2017.

      https://www.vice.com/fr/article/d3qxbw/le-fleuve-vros-cimetire-des-migrants-anonymes-grece-turquie

  • Envie de lire quelque chose sur l’histoire sociale des portes,
    sur la nécessité de s’enfermer, le passage du public au privé, l’avènement sécuritaire.
    Discussion hier, me rappelle que Le louvre était un lieu ouvert, comme les églises, que l’on venait y dormir. Elle, se rappelle, qu’elle ne fermait jamais sa maison. Lui, qu’il n’y avait pas de digicodes et que les clochards dormaient dans l’escalier. L’autre, que Michael Moore débarque au Québec dans Bowling for Columbine pour vérifier que les habitants ne ferment effectivement pas leur chez eux.
    Pas trouvé ce sujet dans @chezsoi malgré toute sa richesse, en manque, note ici pour trouver plus tard.
    Me pense aux frontières, aux murs, aux séparations chez moi/chez eux.

  • La #charia appliquée en #Grèce

    Il existe au sein de l’Union européenne un territoire où la charia est officiellement reconnue et appliquée. C’est en Grèce, précisément en #Thrace_occidentale, à la frontière gréco-turque, que les citoyens grecs musulmans peuvent faire appel aux muftis et à la #loi_islamique pour régler leurs affaires familiales et personnelles tout en restant en conformité avec le droit grec.


    http://orientxxi.info/lu-vu-entendu/la-charia-appliquee-en-grece,0643
    #religion #droit_religieux

  • Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière gréco-turque

    http://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    L’Europe se déchire sur la « crise des migrants », et la Hongrie vient d’annoncer la fermeture de la frontière et l’édification d’une clôture de barbelés de 4 mètres de haut sur les 175 kilomètres de tracé frontalier avec la Serbie. Mais que se passe-t-il vraiment le long des frontières européennes ?

    Alberto Campi @albertocampiphoto et Cristina Del Biaggio @cdb_77 arpentent ces marges depuis 2012 et proposent de nous emmener dans un voyage en plusieurs étapes (reportages que nous publierons tout au long de l’été sur visionscarto.net), d’Istanbul à Patras en passant par Evros, Alexandropouli et Athènes.

    Nous rencontrerons des migrants, des policiers, des médecins, des activistes, de simples citoyens grecs ou turcs, courageux témoins qui tentent de venir en aide à cette humanité désespérée et vulnérable, mais qui ne se résigne pas.

    Aujourd’hui, le mur d’Evros, sur la frontière gréco-turque. Considérée comme une passoire, les autorités grecques ont cherché à la « verrouiller » en construisant un « mur » sur un peu plus de 12 kilomètres, symbole du durcissement de la politique de surveillance et de restriction des flux migratoires vers l’Europe.

    Certains de ces reportages ont été publiés dans le journal suisse « La Cité » avec qui nous commençons une collaboration.

    http://www.lacite.info

    #migrations #asile #réfugiés #grèce #turquie #évros

  • Dans la région de l’Evros, un mur inutile sur la frontière gréco-turque
    http://visionscarto.net/evros-mur-inutile

    L’Europe se déchire sur la « crise des migrants », et la Hongrie vient d’annoncer la fermeture de la frontière et l’édification d’une clôture de barbelés de 4 mètres de haut sur les 175 kilomètres de tracé frontalier avec la Serbie. Mais que se passe-t-il vraiment le long des frontières européennes ? Voyage en plusieurs étapes avec Alberto Campi et Cristina Del Biaggio, qui arpentent ces marges depuis 2012. Aujourd’hui, le mur d’Evros, sur la frontière gréco-turque. Considérée comme une passoire, les autorités (...)

    #Billets