SOURCE: Greekcitytimes.com
Turkish Coast Guard caught pushing boat of illegal immigrants into Greek territorial waters
Incredible footage was recorded yesterday by the Hellenic Coast Guard, that once again proves how the Turkish Coast Guard not only makes no effort to prevent illegal immigrants from attempting to enter Greece, but rather promotes it.
A Greek Navy ship and patrol boats of the Hellenic Coast Guard located yesterday morning in the waters to the northeast of the Eastern Aegean island of Lesvos, a boat with illegal immigrants.
This boat of illegal immigrants were under the watchful eye of the Turkish Coast Guard who were sailing in that area.
Following the actions of both the Joint Research and Rescue Coordination Center of the Hellenic Coast Guard Headquarters and the operative vessels of the Hellenic Coast Guard in the area, repeated attempts were made to contact the Turkish authorities in order to pick up the boat of illegal immigrants. As usual, of course, the Turkish authorities ignored the communication attempts made by the Hellenic Coast Guard.
According to the Coast Guard Headquarters, the boat with the illegal immigrants, which did not enter Greek territorial waters at all despite the efforts made by the Turkish coastguards to push them inside of it, was finally collected at noon yesterday by the Turkish coastguard, after being stranded in open seas for many hours.
This of course is of little surprise as the Turkish Coast Guard is one of the biggest human trafficking networks in the world who often facilitate and support illegal smugglers to get migrants into Greece.
Although coronavirus is gripping Turkey with over 3,000 deaths and 117,000 infections, if official figures are to be trusted, Ankara has not abated its aggression against Greece. Turkey still continues to try and send illegal immigrants into Greek maritime space, illegally violates Greek airspace with its war planes, and uses its media to provocatively claim Greek islands as being Turkish.
Turkish soldiers shoot at Greek border protectors AGAIN
An alarm was sounded at around 22:00 last night at the Evros border crossing between Greece and Turkey, when Greek police and soldiers recorded shootings coming from boats on the river where Turks were located, according to Proto Thema.
It is unknown at this time whether they were members of the Turkish Armed Forces or members of the Turkish police special forces.
According to reliable information, the Turks fired fifty bullets at each of the two incidences that occurred.
Subsequent patrols on the Greek side in the area of Tychero in Evros were placed on alert after the shootings.
About two hours later, around midnight on Thursday, the incident recurred. In this second incident, shots were fired by Turks on boats sailing on the Evros river in the area of Tycheros.
Sources that spoke to Proto Thema confirmed the double incident that took place in Evros on Thursday night.
Because it was during the night, the sources did not know where the Turks were shooting at exactly or if they were live shots. The situation is being closely monitored, the same sources said.
Only yesterday the German Ministry of the Interior confirmed that a Turkish soldier fired a shot at 19:15 on Tuesday evening when German officials were on the other side of the border, as reported by Greek City Times.
This incident occurred near the Greek town of Tychero and after German border guards heard a shot from the Turkish side of the border on Tuesday evening, they immediately took cover.
Through a pair of binoculars, the German border guards saw a Turkish soldier aiming an automatic weapon at the Greek side from the other side of the river.
Then the Turkish soldier showed his middle finger and went back to his tent. Other soldiers shouted “come, come” and a short time later, six other Turkish soldiers had appeared and also aimed their guns at the German and Greek border guards.
It appears the Turks are desperately trying to kill a Greek soldier.
Turkish soldier shoots at Greek & German border protectors at Evros
A dangerous incident between Turkish and German border guards occurred at the Greek-Turkish land border.
Turkish soldiers targeted German officials and fired at least one shot. It is unclear where the bullet went.
The news emerged from an internal document of the European border protection agency Frontex, which was made available to German media outlet SPIEGEL. No one was injured in the incident.
The German Ministry of the Interior confirmed the incident. A Turkish soldier fired a shot at 19:15 on Tuesday evening when German officials were on the other side of the border.
German officers are stationed at the Greek border as part of a Frontex mission. The incident occurred near the Greek town of Tychero. According to SPIEGEL information, after German border guards heard a shot from the Turkish side of the border on Tuesday evening, they immediately took cover.
Through a pair of binoculars, the German border guards saw a Turkish soldier aiming an automatic weapon at the Greek side from the other side of the river.
Then the Turkish soldier showed his middle finger and went back to his tent. Other soldiers shouted “come, come” and a short time later, six other Turkish soldiers had appeared and also aimed their guns at the German and Greek border guards.
Frontex said on request that all the facts about the incident were with the Greek authorities. The Turkish government have not commented on the incident.
The day after the incident, the Greek Deputy Migration Minister George Koumoutsakos phoned Frontex boss Fabrice Leggeri. Among other things, they discussed the possibility of sending more Frontex officials to Greece. The number of refugees who try to cross the land border or to the Greek islands in the Aegean usually increases in summer.
Germany has been participating in the Frontex mission in Greece for several years. They are mostly federal police officers who assist the Greek authorities in checking the border, but the state police also provide officials for the German Frontex force. By March, there were around 60 officials.
After a call for help from Athens at the beginning of March, Germany pledged another 20 police officers and a seaworthy helicopter to observe refugee movements in the Mediterranean. At the time, Greece feared that Turkey could completely open the borders, especially to Syrian refugees.
The relationship between Frontex and Turkey was already tense after an aggressive incident in March. At that time, two Turkish planes had been tracking a Danish reconnaissance jet, which was commissioned by Frontex, for several minutes. In Germany, the action was seen as an aggressive act.
