“Get out of the bus quickly,” roars a Turkish soldier in civilian clothes in the car with refugees. “You have to go to the border river, now, get out!” When the inmates refuse, the soldier draws his pistol menacingly. “Don’t argue, stop now,” he orders. “On the river, the Turkish military will take you to Greece by boat.” A woman in the vehicle asks him to be considerate of children and to let them go on. But the soldier knows no pardon. “What can I do if you have so many children.”
This scene can be seen in a video that circulated on Twitter on Wednesday. Everything indicates that the pictures are authentic. Many of the refugees are under similar pressure from Turkish security forces to cross the Greek border. “Police officers told us that either we would immediately deport you back to Iran, or you would get on the bus that would take you to the border,” says a young man from Iran who is traveling with his family of five. “There was no contradiction.”
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Turkish-Greek border – – – – –
On Wednesday, in view of the escalating refugee crisis, Josep Borell Fontelles traveled to Ankara for talks. He is the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in Ursula van der Leyen’s Commission. At the press conference following his meeting with a number of Turkish ministers, Fontelles said that Turkey had been asked not to encourage further refugees to move to the border. “The answer then was that they would not do this and simply could not stop people,” Fontelles said.
Ankara is planning a big showdown
It is ultimately a cynical statement by Turkish government officials. Because Turkey has been staging a refugee crisis with great effort since last week that would never have happened. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to put the EU and NATO under pressure. He is demanding more aid from Europe for the around four million refugees in Turkey and military support in Idlib from NATO. In the Syrian province, the Turkish army is fighting together with radical Islamist rebels against the Assad regime and its powerful allies Russia. The death of 36 Turkish soldiers had prompted Ankara to declare the border to Europe open and to start the refugee crisis.
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Refugees sit with their bags at the Pazarkule border crossing – in the background you can see several buses
Source: pa / dpa / Mohssen Assanimoghaddam
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Since Friday, buses from the Turkish authorities have been bringing thousands of refugees from Istanbul to the northwestern border area near the city of Edirne and from there to the Mizra River, which separates Turkey from Greece. So far, the Greek border guards have been able to arrest all refugees on their territory and send them back to Turkey. But that should change now. Ankara is planning a big showdown.
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The military and police have been gathering as many refugees as possible near the small town of Karaagac since Wednesday. The 3500-strong place is only two kilometers from the Greek border crossing Pazarkule. There have been multiple clashes between refugees and the Greek police in the past few days using water cannons and tear gas. But now Pazarkule could be overrun by thousands of migrants.
The Turkish security forces have set up a restricted area in front of the Greek transition, which is secured with two-meter high fences. Only refugees are admitted, and they have been carted in from all areas during the day. The meeting places of the refugees from the past few days along the Mizra River have been swept empty. Even the village of Doyran is a ghost town, which was one of the main gathering points before people tried their luck at the border. On Wednesday afternoon, only a bus can be seen in the village that picks up the last refugees and transports them to Karaagac. It is a group of Afghans. How many refugees are inside the fence is unclear. But there must be thousands. People only leave the restricted area to buy food that is sold behind the fence at inflated prices.
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Refugees at the bridge in Karaagac – many of them sleep on the bare floor
All other refugees who arrive are gathered at the Tunca Bridge, a historic building from the Ottoman period, at the entrance to Karaagac. Its arches above the water are illuminated in red at night. A nice spectacle that the refugees there are of little interest. They sit on stone steps like chickens on the ladder, close together. The people who come from Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Morocco and Turkmenistan are waiting for them to move to the border in the morning. They simply camp on the bare floor overnight. Only a few built improvised tents with tarpaulins and blankets. The Turkish police are on site and monitor the refugees.
Greek soldiers beat and shoot refugees
Many of them had already crossed the river to Greece in the days before. Suleiman from the Syrian city of Homs says that he spent four hours on Greek soil. “I marched around, but then soldiers discovered me, beat me up, stole my clothes, cell phone and money.” His arm was broken from the beating. He poses for a photo with his plaster bandage. He got her in a Turkish hospital after being sent back by the Greeks.
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Turkish-Greek border – – – – –
The 22-year-old has been in Turkey for two months. He is originally from Homs, which is controlled by the Assad regime. “I didn’t want to go to the military, so I had to go,” Suleiman explains. He had to bribe a Syrian army officer with $ 1,500 to get to Idlib’s rebel stronghold. The price for the smuggler who then took him to Turkey from there was relatively cheap. “That cost me another $ 400,” Suleiman says almost succinctly. His father had to sell some fields to finance his son’s escape. Despite his bad experience with the Greek soldiers, Suleiman wants to try it again. “Tomorrow it should work, that’s what everyone says. We cross the border and nobody can stop us. ”
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Several migrants were hospitalized, and Greek soldiers are said to have shot them
Credit: Getty Images / Chris McGrath
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At the Tunca Bridge is also a young Moroccan named Samir, who comes from the well-known resort of Agadir on the Atlantic coast. The 22-year-old has already tried to escape across the border. He was hit by a bullet from a Greek border guard. He shows the bloodstained bandage and his hospital bracelet. In the hospital, he saw some Syrian refugees, he says, who also had gunshot wounds. Greek soldiers are said to have shot a refugee on Wednesday, and Turkish media also reported. A Greek government spokesman denied this on Wednesday and spoke of fake news. “I have no other choice,” says Samir. “I’ve come this far and have to try again when tomorrow is supposed to be the big day.”
Not far from him is David, one of the few Africans at the Tunca Bridge. The tall 29-year-old with dreadlocks and black hooded jacket comes from Nigeria. He is a bricklayer and tiler in one. “I want to go to Europe. Just in a country, ”he says with a modest undertone,“ in which I am supported, in which I can work and live in peace ”. David believes in the power of Erdogan to open the border to the promised Europe for him and everyone else. “I heard that Erdogan has an important meeting tomorrow and he is known to be able to speak well,” says David with conviction. “Then our problems will be solved.”
“Illegal border crossings will not be tolerated,” said a statement that the interior ministers of the 27 EU countries agreed on Wednesday at their special meeting in Brussels. Protection at the Greek border with Turkey was to be strengthened. “The EU and its member states will take all necessary measures in accordance with European and international law.”
During the night, the temperatures in the border area drop to five degrees Celsius. Many of the refugees find it very late to sleep in the cold. At some point it starts to rain. If you don’t have a tent, you can set up a quarters next to the heavy iron pillars of a covered market. People experience an abrupt awakening on Thursday morning. “You have to go, you can’t stay here,” roar Turkish police officers and drive them to the Tunca Bridge. There the refugees are now waiting on the river bank for them to finally come to Greece. During the night, the Turkish authorities also added another kilometer to the restricted area. Apart from the refugees, nobody should be aware of what is happening at the border.
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