The Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak considers the presence of Special Forces of the Hellenic Armed Forces in the region of Evros near the Turkish borders a “provocation”. The forces were deployed in the area of ​​the village of Megalo Derio in Soufli, to prevent illegal immigration from crossing the Greek-Bulgarian border.

With a provocative title: “Patrol Unit in another” Turkish “village of Western Thrace”, the Turkish newspaper reports that the special forces arrived in Megalo Derio on the orders of the Chief of General Staff Konstantinos Floros, noting that they will patrol the entire area 24 hours a day. “Greece, which is escalating the tension in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, continues to amass troops in Turkish villages in western Thrace. The Greek General Staff will deploy a special forces unit in Megalo Derio, which is one of the Turkish villages in the Soufli area,” the report underlines.

The article covers “Turkish” villages in Thrace, asking why Athens is sending military units or carrying out exercises in minority villages. “Recently, the government of Athens continues to deploy patrol units to ‘Turkish’ villages in western Thrace. Recently, the Greek side set up paratrooper units in the ‘Turkish’ villages of Ormenio and Soufli for border security reasons. While in Glafki they had carried out an exercise with heavy weapons in the middle of the village. Greece previously established special forces units in the Turkish villages of Ormenio and Soufli. Also, a Greek unit of special forces had carried out an exercise with heavy weapons in the middle of the village of Glafki in the municipality of Myki”, concludes the article, clearly illustrating the annoyance of Ankara from the presence of Greek military forces in Thrace.