Turkey

[Reaper]

Mitotakis is always more concerned about attacking greeks than keeping Greece's border secure. Greek army still being advised to 'rescue' illegal immigrant boats off Lesbos.

Greece is heading for coup territory fast. A PM who favours illegal immigrants over Greeks? A PM who attacks Greeks with MAT for not accepting illegal immigrants?

Coup territory. Even if it doesn't happen - Greek generals will be talking. Mitsotakis works for Erdogan, not Greece. A country that does not have borders is not a country.

[Reaper]

66 managed to break the Greek lines and were detained. Not one of them had any origin in anywhere near Syria..

The situation is critical. The illegal migrants have been throwing chemical canisters at the Greek police.





Not one EU nation is helping Greece - not even a friendly word. I suppose this is the word the EU use all the time,

Solidarity.

What a fraud organisation the EU is.

[Don Giovanni]

Erdogan Says, ‘We Opened the Doors,’ and Clashes Erupt as Migrants Head for Europe

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/w...grants-eu.html

The migrants at the border had heeded Mr. Erdogan’s call and rushed to Turkey’s borders with Europe, some on Friday taking free rides on buses organized by Turkish officials. But once at the Europe’s doorstep, they were met with a violent crackdown.

Migrants were also heading by sea to the Turkish coast, from where they hope to reach Greek islands, facilitated by the Turkish authorities, but officials reported few arrivals Saturday, perhaps because of poor weather at sea.

The mini-exodus was live-streamed by Turkish state television in scenes reminiscent of the 2015 migrant crisis that Europe had solve only with Turkey’s help. Syrians shared information, some joking about the Turkish facilitation, suggesting they should publish the telephone numbers of people smugglers, too.

Greece “came under an illegal, mass and orchestrated attempt to raze our borders and stood up protecting not only our frontiers, but those of Europe too,” said Stelios Petsas, the Greek government spokesman. He added that 66 migrants had been arrested crossing the land border illegally, and “none have anything to do with Idlib.”

[Reaper]

The optics of Mitsotakis making Greeks defend the Thracian border is positive.
The optics of the Greek navy 'rescuing' illegal boats off Lesbos and escorting them into Greek harbours - less so.

The EU is quiet to protect Germany's relationship with Turkey.

Mitsotakis should invite EU diplomats to Alexandroupoli to discuss the problem. He hasn't. He is asking for a meeting in Brussels. We all know how that will go..

[Don Giovanni]

Reaper

The goal Mitsotakis had was to make the conditions for the migrants on the islands impossible, to the point where they'll want to return back to where they came from and, more importantly, to discourage other migrants from coming. The message was that they weren't getting beyond that point. It's Tsipras and the EU that wants them on the Greek mainland and for this carousel of migrants to keep coming through.

To Mitsotakis' credit, he actually tried to stop these groups, but he is failing and he's clearly at a lost as to what can be done, especially within the law and without burning his bridges with the EU. That's why he keeps "rescuing" people in the waters: he's bound by EU and international law.

I believe a leader leads with charisma and character. Mitsotakis has to find it within himself to become that leader or else Tsipras will continue to dunk on him and become our only feasible democratic alternative, unless the situation escalates to the point where a military commander must take charge of the country and reimpose martial law, like we saw in the 60s and like we have seen in Libya, Egypt and just about everywhere south and east of our country where they have been dealing with the US-supported Arab springs.

*****

I think it's pathetic that all these "refugee" men are massing on our border. To put it into perspective, if Greece was under a bloody civil war, who among us would abandon our motherland at a time of need? We would all be on the front lines fighting, not running away seeking refuge. These men are deserters, not refugees. If anyone tells you that these people are suffering, remember what so many Greeks had to put up with during World War II. The famines, the Nazi occupation.

Anyone who tells me I have to feel sorry for these people can go fuck themselves! My grandparents went through too much for me to watch as our country gets overrun by people who can't even be bothered to stand up and fight for their own damn country. And unless they're Christians, unless they're moderate Muslims who actually stand up to the tyranny of Islamic rule, or they really are families seeking refuge from Erdogan, Assad, and al-Qaeda, then these people running to our country have no right to refugee status.

[Reaper]

[USER="1"]

To Mitsotakis' credit, he actually tried to stop these groups, but he is failing and he's clearly at a lost as to what can be done, especially within the law and without burning his bridges with the EU. That's why he keeps "rescuing" people in the waters: he's bound by EU and international law.

Naa. Greece has an agreement to push the boats back if needed, fly migrants back to Turkey, sail them back - anything:

https://www.france24.com/en/20171209...-greece-report

Why Greece doesn't? You have to explore the politics of the left to understand that.

Check out this video - actual Walking Dead shit:

https://twitter.com/Ahilleasl/status...71341826314254


I think the more boats Mitsotakis lets land, the less he talks about protecting Greece, the more he talks with the EU.. the colonels will be talking. I don't think he realises how close he is to being arrested. Chances of a new junta currently? 5%. If Mitsotakis continues assisting migrants? Higher..

[Soprano76]

Seems about 100 total have broken the Greek lines over the past few days and over half have been sentenced to 3.5 year prison sentences for their invasion. Some of the islands on Lesvos prevented some boats from landing on the island this morning as well. Hopefully the tide is turning and these people go back to whence they came.

[Don Giovanni]

Naa. Greece has an agreement to push the boats back if needed, fly migrants back to Turkey, sail them back - anything:

https://www.france24.com/en/20171209...-greece-report

Why Greece doesn't? You have to explore the politics of the left to understand that.

Check out this video - actual Walking Dead shit:

https://twitter.com/Ahilleasl/status...71341826314254


I think the more boats Mitsotakis lets land, the less he talks about protecting Greece, the more he talks with the EU.. the colonels will be talking. I don't think he realises how close he is to being arrested. Chances of a new junta currently? 5%. If Mitsotakis continues assisting migrants? Higher..

Most of the boats are being turned away.

Also, under that agreement you cite, Greece has to consider asylum cases, so they can't turn people back all the time, they have to process these people first and then turn them back. That's how the agreement works. Then for every migrant turned back, Turkey gets money. It's a bad deal.

Given our options, at least Mitsotakis is trying to stop the migrants from coming. He's doing well to discourage them. As far as I'm concerned, he has the right idea. Tsipras would have given these people a green light. My only issue with Mitsotakis is how he asserts himself. He's not speaking up. He's not condemning this as loudly he should. Erdogan's out there rallying like Trump, but Mitsotakis sends a scripted tweet. He's too quiet and he has to learn to speak up. He has to have more presence and make it very clear that Turkey can't blackmail Europe. They have to hold up their end of the bargain or else this sort of action must be termed an act of war, and make it clear that we will go to war to secure our borders if we must.

[Don Giovanni]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...ot-down-118382

Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun later said Turkey had changed its focus to preparing for the possibility of new arrivals from Syria “instead of preventing refugees who intend to migrate to Europe.”

“Europe and others must take robust action to address this monumental challenge,” Altun said. “We can’t be expected to do this on our own.”

He accused critics of Turkey’s refugee policy of “rampant hypocrisy.”

He claimed 80,888 had left Turkey for Europe “in the past several days” and called on Europe to share the burden of looking after refugees. But there was no evidence to support his claim. Greece has shut its border, and there were a few dozen arrests of people who managed to cross through the border, Greek authorities have said.

Greek Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis told the local broadcaster Skai there were around 9,600 attempts to illegally cross Greece’s border during the night Saturday to Sunday. Stefanis said all were successfully thwarted. Previously several dozen migrants had managed to make it through.

Greek officials said they arrested 66 migrants Friday, 17 of whom were sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for entering the country illegally. All Afghans, they were the first migrants sentenced for illegal entry since 2014. On Saturday, Greece arrested another 70 people who tried to cross the land border illegally.

Stavros Zamalides, president of the local community in Kastanies, said Turkish soldiers were actively helping people cross the Greek border clandestinely.

“Turkish soldiers with cutters in their hands were cutting the wires of the fence to lead the illegal migrants” into crossing the border, he said. “The attempt was thwarted by the intervention of our own patrol that happened to be passing that area on patrol at the time, and it repaired the damage in the fence,” he added.

Twenty-year-old Afghan Ayamuddin Azimi made it to the Greek border village of Nea Vyssa along with a compatriot. He said Turkey had opened its borders “to save the refugees” but when they got to the frontier they found the Greek side closed.

He crossed clandestinely, he said. “What can I do? We have nothing to do. This is our life.”

Initial figures collected by Greece’s Merchant Marine Ministry from the coast guard around the eastern Aegean islands showed a clear increase in the number of people arriving by dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast.

By midday Sunday, the ministry said initial figures indicated 390 people had arrived since Sunday morning in several boats. The vast majority arrived on the island of Lesbos, with smaller numbers on Chios and Samos. More were believed to be attempting to reach the islands.

[Don Giovanni]

And we complain about Mitsotakis... this is the first time we have sentence any of these invaders in SIX YEARS!!!!

[Reaper]

Why should they be housed and fed at the Greek tax payer's expense in a prison exactly?? They should be escorted back out the nation immediately. Absurd to arrest them.

As for the sea travel, Greece does not have the IQ to push the boats back and block them landing. Afraid of an EU fine? Really? Don't buy it. Push the boats back. Turkey does not recognise the laws of the sea anyway - it is illegal for a state to take part in people trafficking the way Turkey is - you think they worry about fines? Turkey will start sending 1000s by boats.

[Soprano76]

Holy shit, reading about the no prison sentences since 2014 was eye opening. Syriza and Tsipras were an unmitigated disaster for Hellas

[Reaper]

Greek locals in Lesbos are trying to stop the migrants on the boats disembarking in Lesbos port:



https://www.news247.gr/koinonia/lesv...V-cOb3SduTBND0

[Reaper]

Wow, one whole month... what a hero.

[Reaper]

https://www.philenews.com/eidiseis/e...ploka-kai-xylo

Explosive situation is developing on Lesbos island where locals are forming groups that are actively locating and beating up Lesbos-based NGO human traffickers.