Greece to build 140-km-long steel wall along border with Türkiye: Minister

By Ayhan Mehmet

GUMULCINE, Greece (AA) - Greece will build a 140-kilometer- (87-mile-) long steel fence along with Meric River, said the country's citizen protection minister on Saturday.

Speaking to local Skai TV, Takis Theodorikakos said his ministry has launched a project on building a fence to prevent migrant crossings.

In December, Greece announced that it would deploy 250 border police to tighten patrol and surveillance measures near the Meric (Evros) region on the Turkish border.

On Tuesday, Türkiye's National Defense Ministry revealed that a Turkish naval drone recorded footage of Greek forces illegally pushing back a boat carrying irregular migrants to Turkish territorial waters.

The illegal Greek pushback was recorded north of the Greek island of Midilli (Lesbos) in the Aegean Sea on Dec. 30, the ministry said in a tweet.

Ankara and international human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable people, including women and children.

Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution in their countries.

It already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world, and is taking new security measures on its borders to humanely prevent an influx of migrants.