Greece extends border wall with Turkey to deter Afghan migrant influx

Greece has completed the construction of a 40 km wall on its border with Turkey and installed a surveillance system in a bid to stave off asylum seekers from trying to reach Europe following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported on Saturday.

The move by Athens arrives as the Taliban’s takeover of the war-battered country is sparking fears of a possible humanitarian crisis that could see large numbers of people attempt to flee the country, causing Europe to face a migration crisis similar to that in 2015.

“We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact,” the Greek Citizens’ Protections Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis told Reuters. “Our borders will remain safe and inviolable.”

The move is part of an attempt to stop a repeat of scenes six years ago and follows a fence of almost eight miles along Greece’s Turkey border.

Turkey, which has seen a migrant influx from Afghanistan amid the rapid Taliban advance in recent weeks, is presently building a 243-kilometre concrete wall along its 534-kilometre border with Iran to reduce unauthorized crossings by migrants. Ankara says it has already finished 156 kilometres of that new wall. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed the crisis in Afghanistanand the risk of refugees and migrants fleeing en masse from the Taliban takeover to their countries, BBC reported on Saturday.

In 2015, more than 1 million people escaping war and poverty in the Middle East crossed over from Turkey into the EU, with some 60,000 staying in Greece as more travelled into other countries.

The influx prompted the signing of an agreement between the EU and Turkey aimed at stopping the flow of irregular migrationvia the latter into Europe.