Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis… Thousands in Turkey have done their business and jumped without delay on this opportunity announced like a miracle on the night of February 27 to 28 following the attack attributed to the Syrian regime which cost the life to 34 Turkish soldiers in Idleb. The doors of Europe opened suddenly, after four years of hermeticism. “Here, I work 12 hours a day, I have a family, a rent to pay, my salary is too modest, says Khaldun, from Aleppo. I want to go to Germany, where there are no problems! "
How many have left for the past three days towards the Greek border? Ankara began a digital bid as spectacular as it was precise, announcing on Saturday 18,000, then 36,776, then 47,113 people who crossed the border. This Sunday, when the United Nations agency for migration estimated that at least 13,000 migrants, including families with children, had spent the night outside at the Greek-Turkish border (failing to be able to cross it ), the Turkish Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, put forward 76,358 traversers! The objective is twofold: to frighten the EU but also to encourage skeptics to leave towards the border town of Edirne.
There, their hope comes up against geopolitical reality. Turkey has lifted its barriers, not Greece. Those who thought they could pass easily are now blocked. The game of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set up. Images of thousands of people gathered at the border are pouring into European television. Erdogan added on February 29 subtitles that could not be more clear: "What have we done?" We opened the doors. And we will not close them… Why? Because Europe should keep its promises. "
Greece is draped in barbed wire
More than ever isolated on the diplomatic scene after a very disappointing rapprochement with the allied Russia of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey has no choice but to call the EU to the rescue by reminding it of its shortcomings, namely the rest of the 6 billion euros promised in the 2016 migration agreement. Erdogan's popularity, already undermined by the presence of 3.6 million Syrians in Turkey, cannot suffer from more military losses or the he influx of the 1.5 million refugees who camp on the Turkish-Syrian border in disastrous humanitarian conditions after fleeing the regime's attacks in Idleb. If Ankara has started to make “pay the high price” to Bashar al-Assad, claiming to have neutralized 2000 soldiers, 72 rocket launchers and 103 tanks, it cannot get bogged down alone in this standoff.
Over the hours and through diplomatic negotiations, the ranks of those aspiring to leave grew, as did their frustration, at the Pazarkule border post. Some refugees threw stones on 29 February and started fires in response to the Greek police firing tear gas canisters. Others tried to cross the Meriç river, which marks the border further south, to no avail. For fear of reliving the same scenario as in 2015, Greece is draped in barbed wire and boosted its workforce, supported by the European agency Frontex. And this Sunday, residents set fire to an unoccupied reception center for migrants in Lesbos. The balance of power has not been reversed. Not yet.
