According to Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, the Afghan crisis is leading to a new situation in the geopolitical sphere and at the same time creating opportunities for migration flows
Greece will protect its borders from indiscriminate flows of migrants from Afghanistan. This was announced on Friday by Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, who together with Greek Defence Minister Nikos Panayiotopoulos and several other security chiefs visited units on the Greek-Turkish land border in the Evros region (north-east of the country).
“Our borders will remain secure and inviolable. This is our decision – and at the same time an order from the Prime Minister, which we are handing over today to the officers of the Greek armed forces and police, as well as to local bodies – to protect our borders. We will not allow unauthorized and disorderly actions, we will not allow any attempts to violate the borders”, – Chrysochoidis said.
According to him, the Afghan crisis leads to a new situation in the geopolitical sphere and at the same time creates opportunities for migration flows.
“We, as a European country, participate in the institutions of the European Union and a number of decisions are taken within this framework, but we cannot passively wait for possible consequences. We support democratic rights and human freedoms, but at the same time we cannot allow migration flows to become instruments [of pressure] that may arise”, – the minister said.
He also referred to the “significant improvement in border security and protection compared to 18 months ago, when a crisis broke out in the Evros region” with tens of thousands of illegal migrants trying to cross the border from the Turkish side.
“During these months, the construction of a fence of about 40 kilometres on critical sections of the border has been completed”, – Chrysochoidis said. According to him, “this fence is a remarkable project, which creates conditions to deter [migrants].” “An integrated automated electronic border surveillance system has also been completed, which we visited for the first time today and which is starting to work these days. It is extremely technologically advanced and has great potential and efficiency in border surveillance”, – the minister explained.
For his part, the National Defence Minister assured that “Greece continues to strengthen its defence capabilities against any potential or existing security threat.” Panayiotopoulos said the ministers visited a number of areas of the land border on Friday and were convinced of “the excellent and improved functioning of border security systems with the valuable assistance of Greek police and armed forces personnel, the harmonious cooperation of their units, as well as the deployment of modern surveillance systems”. “In fact, we have explored ways to strengthen these systems,” the minister added.