Greece facing ‘asymmetrical threat’ over migration

TAGS: Migration, Turkey

Greece is facing an “asymmetrical threat” from Turkey vis-a-vis the refugee and migration crisis, and the European union is “incapable and unwilling” to deal with the issue, except “superficially, putting money into it,” the honorary chief of the Greek armed forces, Konstantinos Ginis, told Skai on Tuesday.

The retired admiral said that Greece needs to change its “tactics” towards Turkey on the issue, suggesting that Athens could denounce the EU-Turkey agreement on migration and seek a new deal that would compel all the countries in the bloc to share the burden more equally.

Greece must also stress to Turkey that its failure to staunch refugee and migrant flows across the Aegean is an “act of aggression,” Ginis said, adding that Athens needs to treat it as such.

Ginis dismissed efforts by the government to speed up the asylum procedure as a “tertiary issue,” saying that the focus needs to be on “why all these people are coming and how.”

“Do we have a strategy for preventing their arrival?” Ginis asked, saying that Greece needs to strengthen its presence along its border with Turkey.

He also slammed an ongoing scheme for transferring thousands of refugees from overcrowded island camps to the mainland, saying that it “sends the wrong message” when photographs of buses taking refugees and migrants to hotels are publicly broadcast. “It’s like we’re telling them: ‘Come over’,” he said.