Greece gripped by concerns of far-right rise

Islam Mohamed

Greece is gripped by security concerns that an influx of refugees from Turkey through its eastern border will result in a rise of the far-right parties. Columnist Esmé O’Keeffe wrote in The Independent newspaper that the prospect of another ‘migrant crisis’ such as in 2015 is a gift to sensationalist populist propaganda.

A far-right populist movement has emerged opposing the influx of refugees, prompting the European peoples to be hostile to refugees. This movement may prompt Europeans to vote for far-right parties.

Although the ruling party in Greece, New Democracy Party, has adopted a tough attitude towards illegal migration, small extremist parties may benefit from the recent incidents. In Greece, the far-right parties may expand at the expense of the New Democracy Party.

The Kyriakos Mitsotakis-led government has adopted a tough approach towards migration, and vowed to speed up kicking out some refugees and transfer them to Turkey or to their home countries.

Turkey and the European Union signed an agreement in March 2016 to rein in the flow of migrants into Europe. The EU member states have relied on Turkey for 4 years to prevent the influx of migrants. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has carried out his threats and allowed refugees to cross to the border with Greece.

Currently, Turkey hosts around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people who want to flee from Idlib.

Turkey’s foreign minister told in a press conference in Ankara that the recent attack by Syrian forces on Idlib had displaced around one million people, according to UN estimates.

Greece’s Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said Greece is seeking to transfer Afghan migrants to their homeland. Official data show that 75% of the migrants come from Afghanistan.