Greece blocks migrants on border with Turkey

KASTANIES: Greece blocked hundreds of migrants trying to enter the country on Friday, hours after Turkey said it would no longer prevent them from going to Europe. At a border crossing in Kastanies in Greece´s northeastern Evros region, an AFP reporter saw army trucks loaded with barbed wire speed past and armed soldiers standing ready, as Athens said it was tightening controls “to the maximum level possible”. Earlier, around 300 asylum-seekers had arrived in the area, seemingly from Edirne in Turkey, army and police sources told AFP.

Athens said the head of Greece´s general staff and minister police had been dispatched to the area. As well as trying to get to Europe via land, refugees were also attempting to reach Greece by sea.

According to the private Turkish news agency DHA, asylum-seekers were assembling on Turkey´s western coast of Ayvacik to try to go to the Greek island of Lesbos by boat. According to AFP reporters on Lesbos, two boats arrived with around 70 people on board, with many of them scrambling ashore carrying children on their backs.

Other countries neighbouring Turkey also said they were stepping up border controls. In Bulgaria, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said police had been sent “to our borders (with Turkey) early in the morning. It is worrying that the Turkish border guards have withdrawn. Earlier, a senior Turkish official had said that Ankara would no longer close its border gates to refugees wanting to go to Europe, shortly after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Idlib, northern Syria. “After developments in Idlib, (Athens) is in close contact with the EU and NATO,” a Greek government source said. Turkey, which is already home to around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, fears more people arriving in the country where there is growing popular discontent against their presence.