Greece completes anti-immigrant fence on Turkish border

The construction of a 10.5 km fence on the Greek-Turkish border, intended to prevent illegal immigrants crossing into Greece via the Evros crossing, is now complete. The project cost € 3 million.

In an effort to deter the flood of illegal immigrants entering Greece, the government ordered the construction of an anti-immigrant fence in Evros. The structure comprise two parallel fences topped with barbed wire. The fence also has 25 thermal cameras. The Greek government bore the cost of the fence as the EU refused to fund the project. According to SNA the EU did not consider the fence an effective form of combating illegal immigration. Ekathimerini reported border guards have stated the fence has already had a dramatic effect on curbing migrants, with figures showing a 95 percent reduction in illegals entering Greece via Evros. A concentration of almost 1,800 border guards also contributed to the reduction. In 2011 100,000 migrants were arrested attempting to cross the border. Although the fence has lowered numbers of illegals entering Greece in the Evros area, migrants attempting to reach Greece are turning to the more dangerous sea routes. Traffickers are instead bringing migrants to the Greek islands. Digital Journal reported a small Turkish boat carrying 27 migrants from Iraq capsized on Saturday, off the coast of Lesvos. Thus far 20 bodies have been recovered from the water, while a search continues for any survivors. According to Proto Thema 11 Syrian migrants were dumped by traffickers near a beach at Rethymno, Crete, on Sunday. The migrants each paid € 5,000 to smugglers. The Syrians were abandoned close to the beach and forced to swim ashore. Local residents found them sheltering in caves.