Greece accused of opening fire as border tensions with Turkey grow

Turkey accused Greece of opening fire at migrants trying to cross the border, killing at least one, a charge that Athens dismissed as “fake news,” as worries grew that Europe was about to face a new version of a migration crisis it thought it had solved.

The rush of news left the European Union scrambling for solutions on Wednesday.

The governor of Turkey’s border city of Edirne, near the zone of clashes between the migrants and Greek security forces, said that one migrant was killed and five were wounded by gunfire.

All six victims are reportedly males, but their identities were not immediately known, the governor said in a statement.

The dead person was hit in the chest. The Greek border police used rubber and live bullets along with gas, stun and smoke grenades, it added.

Sayyid Rahman from Afghanistan, who returned from the no-man’s land to Pazarkule on the Turkish side, said that he saw security forces firing at migrants and hitting six.

In Athens, a government spokesperson dismissed the report.

“I vehemently deny reports of injuries through Greek fire,” the spokesperson, Stelios Petsas, told a news conference, accusing Turkey of fabricating “fake news.”

Thousands of migrants are stranded on Turkey’s land border with Greece, ever since Turkey on Friday said it would no longer stop then from trying to reach Europe. But the move was met by a harsh response from Greece, which does not want a repeat of the last migration crisis, which peaked in 2015-16.

Greek security forces have been firing tear gas at the migrants trying to cross the land border between Kastanies and Pazarkule nearly every day since Turkey flung the border gates open.

At Kastanies, on the Greek side of the border, the military allowed reporters one hour of access to the restricted zone on Wednesday.

A dpa reporter saw police in riot gear launching tear gas at migrants as they moved towards the border fence and barricades. The migrants threw some of the still-smoking missiles back, along with stones.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised not to move to re-establish border controls for migrants until his conditions are met.

“This refugee influx will continue until a new constitution, based on Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity, is drafted and free elections are held … and a new government is formed,” he said on Wednesday.

“If they want to solve the issue, European countries should support the political and humanitarian solution Turkey is trying to achieve in Syria,” Erdogan added. “We hope that … European Union will see the truth and provide our country with the necessary support.”

According to Greek sources, some 12,500 migrants were massed across the border, in the Evros region in the north-east, with the biggest flashpoint in the area of the Kastanies-Pazarkule crossing.

Erdogan’s move spurred EU leaders into scrambling for measures to prevent a new surge of migrants, four years after a collapsing deal with Turkey curbed the influx.

In Brussels, EU interior ministers are due to conduct emergency talks about the situation on the bloc’s external borders later on Wednesday.

Many in the European Union worry about a repeat of Europe’s 2015-16 migration influx, which triggered a populist backlash and gave rise to anti-EU forces.

The flaring crisis also exposes a broader rift between member states on how to deal with migration.

Efforts to overhaul the bloc’s outdated asylum rules have led nowhere, with EU capitals fiercely divided on who to take in and how to distribute them. One thing all can agree on is the need to strengthen the bloc’s external frontiers.

EU border agency Frontex is preparing to deploy further equipment to the Greek border, while Athens can expect up to 700 million euros (781 million dollars) in EU additional funding.

Greece was also taking steps on its other flank, in the Aegean, and is set to accelerate the deportation of migrants still arriving on the islands.

The navy deployed a ship to Lesbos, which is to take people who arrived since the crisis flared on Friday to a closed camp on the mainland. From there, the migrants are to be swiftly deported to their countries, a coastguard officer told dpa on the island.

Since Sunday, Athens suspended asylum applications for a month and plans to expel all those arriving in the meantime with an expedited procedure. (dpa)