Greece announced on Saturday that it had prevented some 40,000 migrants from entering Greece illegally from Turkey since the start of the year, via the Evros border in the northeast of the country.
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“
In the first four months of 2022, around 40,000 migrants attempted to enter the country illegally and were prevented from doing so by border police
,” Civil Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos told Skai TV channel. .
The number of attempts is currently high because the level of the Evros river, which marks the border between Greece and Turkey, is particularly low.
According to Takis Theodorikakos, Turkey "
is not allowed to tolerate the trafficking of desperate people, nor to help them
" in their attempts to cross the border.
Visual and sound signals
Greece also announced on Monday that it had prevented an attempt to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece from Turkey by around 600 people, the largest attempt recorded this year.
The nine boats had been spotted as soon as they left, and the Greek coastguard used “
visual and sound signals
” to prevent them from passing through Greek waters, according to Athens.
Some turned back, and others were intercepted by the Turkish Coast Guard.
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According to a source from the Ministry of Migration, the flow of migrants for the first four months of the year is almost 30% higher than for the same period last year.
And more than 3,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Greece this year, including 1,100 last month, according to the same source.
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