According to intelligence reports, the Turkish government is secretly planning to send 3,000 refugees to Greece every day.
Greek officials have reported an unusual concentration of dinghies and motorboats along the Turkish coast as the refugee deal that was agreed between Turkey and the European Union begins to sour.
Over the course of the last several days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has renewed his threats to open the borders and unleash waves of refugees upon Europe if it continues to block talks on Turkey’s accession to the EU. He warned: “If you go any further, these border gates will be opened. Neither me nor my people will be affected by these dry threats. It wouldn’t matter if all of you approved the vote.”
The European Parliament voted to temporarily stop talks over mounting concern at the brutal crackdown on dissent in Turkey after a failed military coup in July, as well as Erdogan’s ominous threat to reinstate the death penalty.
According to the migration deal reached in March, any refugee to arrive on either Italian or Greek shores would be returned to Turkey in exchange for acceptance by EU member countries of another refugee from a Turkish camp on a “one-for-one” basis.
However, Ankara has reportedly abandoned hope of Brussels living up to its side of the deal and could start unleasing waves of refugees any day.
In a statement to The Times, Greek intelligence expert Athanassios Drougas said: “No one is underestimating Mr Erdogan and his unpredictability these days. These plans, along with explicit threats that the Turkish president has made in recent weeks, have Greece’s joint chiefs of staff seriously concerned. They are fearful and they have told the political leadership here that if Turkey opens the floodgates yet again, Greece, in its current state of financial and social distress, will not be able to withstand the shock. It will spell war or wreak the havoc of one. With Europe in a mess, Mr Erdogan feels he has a free hand in trying to blackmail the bloc using the refugee crisis as leverage.”
According to British daily Independent, over a million refugees, predominantly Syrian and Iraqi, arrived in Europe last year, many of whom came through the Aegean and Mediterranean sea routes or overland through Turkey. Over 60,000 refugees are currently living in refugee camps in Greece after several Balkan neighboring countries sealed off their borders.
