Greece strengthens border to block migrants fleeing earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Greece has stepped up patrols of its land and sea border with Turkey in anticipation of a flood of refugees after the devastating earthquake.

Hundreds of border guards have been deployed to patrol the Greek-Turkish land border in the Evros region on weekends to counter the influx of refugees from Turkey and Syria.

“Massive displacement of millions of people is not a solution,” said Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis.

The official also stressed the need to send emergency aid to Turkey and Syria before millions of people flee the countries.

On February 24, at the European Border Management Conference, Mitarakis also said that the expansion of the wall along Greece's land border would continue regardless of EU funding. The five-metre, 35-kilometre long fence will double in size by the end of the year.

“The fence will stretch along the entire length of the Evros River so that we can protect the European continent from illegal immigration,” Mitarakis said.

Earlier, on February 26, dozens of migrants died as a result of a shipwreck of a refugee ship on the east coast of Calabria in Italy. In total, according to the Missing Migrants Project, in 2022, more than two thousand migrants went missing or died while trying to cross the Mediterranean on their way to Europe.

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria was one of the deadliest in more than 10 years. The death toll has already exceeded 46 thousand people. After the disaster, abnormally cold weather set in in the affected areas.