Europe Finally Sends Aid to Greece (But Only for Kicking Out Refugees)
Since 2016, the Europe Union has outsourced the repression of migrants to Turkey, bribing the Erdoğan regime to hold back arriving refugees. But as Ankara abandons the deal, the Greek state has now become Europe’s border guard — with deadly consequences for the stateless and dispossessed.
An asylum seeker shows tear gas canisters launched by Greek police at Pazarkule border crossing in Turkey’s Edirne as they continue to wait to enter Greece on March 05, 2020. Gokhan Balci / Anadolu Agency via Getty
A humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding on European soil.
In what some have interpreted as a bid by Turkey to pressure European states to assist its military operations in Syria and provide financial aid, on February 28, the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, suddenly opened its borders with Greece.
This inevitably spurred the hopes of many refugees in Turkey who want to reach Europe. They are now attempting in large numbers to enter Greece. Turkey is one of the world’s top refugee-receiving countries and currently hosts around 4 million refugees, mostly Syrians.
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