European Union border agency Frontex expects a fresh wave of migrants seeking to cross Evros, the land border between Turkey and Greece, German daily Die Welt reports on Friday. The daily cites an internal agency report by the Frontex Situation Center, dated May 5,according to which the wave is expected once Ankara lifts restrictions imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus,
Under the title “Turkey”, the report states that “restrictions on Covid-19 have been gradually lifted in most Aegean provinces, but not yet in Canakkale, Istanbul and Izmir. If freedom of movement is restored in these areas, massive movements of migrants towards the Greek-Turkish border can be expected.”
This would lead to a repeat of the situation in late February and early March when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the doors for migrants to travel to the EU.
Turkey closed its borders mid-March when the coronavirus broke out in the country.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had threatened that “migrants would return to Evros once the pandemic was over.”
Quoting the Frontex report, die Welt notes that additional 262 police officers from other regions in Greece have been sent to the Evros region to beef up security at the border.
“The planned deployment of another 400 newly trained police officers to the Evros area – as announced by the Greek authorities in early 2020 – has been postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the report warned.
