Greece halts receiving displaced Syrians flocking from Turkey

As countries of the world are securing their borders lest the coronavirus reaches their citizens,  thousands of displaced Syrians began flowing to Europe across the borders with Greece.

On Feb. 28, the Turkish government announced Ankara would cease controlling its land and sea borders with Europe and open the passage for migrants wishing to cross.

With the tragic humanitarian situation that displaced Syrians currently suffer and their inability to undergo tests to detect the virus, Greece fears began spreading about the possibility of the virus being transmitted through them to the country, and at the same time, this came in favor of Athens as this situation can be used to persuade the United Nations of its rejection to receive displaced Syrians.

In mid-February, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 53 medical facilities have stopped operations due to the fighting in Syria.

The Washington Post suggested that a coalition of humanitarian medical groups coordinated by WHO and a number of collaborating nations should stand up an appropriate number of field hospitals, medical services and public-health facilities to help quell a coming COVID-19 outbreak.

Moreover, the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey reflects a different reality than the one that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries to export to the world, as Syrians in Turkey are subjected to constant oppression and maltreatment.

Erdogan has warned Western nations that he would continue to release people who were thought to be members of Daesh and send them back to their home countries if governments continued to pressure Turkey with sanctions.

Speaking to reporters shortly before leaving Ankara for a visit to the United States, Erdogan was mostly aiming the remarks at the European Union, which has proposed a system for imposing sanctions on Turkey over its unauthorized gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

The comments came a day after Turkey said it had begun deporting Daesh fighters it had captured, starting a program to repatriate the detainees that has strained ties with European countries.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece had increased “the level of deterrence at our borders to the maximum.”

Erdogan has warned Western nations that he would continue to release people who were thought to be members of Daesh and send them back to their home countries if governments continued to pressure Turkey with sanctions.

Speaking to reporters shortly before leaving Ankara for a visit to the United States, Erdogan was mostly aiming the remarks at the European Union, which has proposed a system for imposing sanctions on Turkey over its unauthorized gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

In a news briefing after the cabinet meeting, government spokesman Stelios Petsas announced that 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.

These Greek measures are considered a persuasive political card to refuse to receive the displaced Syrians who were pushed by the Turkish authorities to its borders as a passage to Europe.