Source: IBT
May 24 2020
By AFP
Greece on Sunday dismissed reports that Turkish soldiers had occupied a strip of Greek territory in the Evros border region, where Athens is expanding a fence to keep migrants out.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said allegations, picked up the the British press, that Turkish troops had occupied a patch of land that is normally submerged at this time of year on Greece's side of the border were "utterly false".
Dendias acknowledged, in an interview with Skai TV, that "a presence of Turkish forces has been observed in a strip of land where some preparatory works had been made by the Greek army" after Athens would not give Turkey the coordinates of its fence expansion in Evros in advance.
But Greece had asked Turkey "not to make any other move in the area", he said.
The Greek defence ministry had already on Saturday said that "at no time Greek soil has been occupied by foreign forces".
Turkish special forces have been present in recent weeks as the Greek Army conducts preparatory work for the expansion of the border fence to prevent massive crossings from migrants.
"We will proceed with the fence expansion. It is our constitutional obligation to protect Greek soil", Dendias said.
ensions ran high in March when Turkey encouraged tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to travel to the border with Greece and try to cross into the European Union.
For days, there were skirmishes on the border as migrants trying to break through threw stones at Greek riot police who fired tear gas at them.
Turkish police also bombarded Greek forces with tear gas, and Athens accused the Turkish police of handing out wire cutters to migrants to help them break through the fence.
Greek border forces have also claimed that Turkish troops have recently fired shots into the air.
Ankara has accused Athens of beating migrants and firing live rounds at them, alleging that some died of bullet injuries.
The Greek government has denied using undue force.
LAND GRAB Turkish troops invade Greece and occupy a small patch of land on contested border
Source: The Sun
May 21 2020
By Nick Parker and Christy Cooney
TURKISH troops yesterday invaded Greece and occupied a small patch of land on their contested border.
Around 35 soldiers reportedly marched onto a floodplain site on the east bank of the River Evros near the town of Feres.
Special forces and infantry set up a camp with a small Turkish flag flying from a tree and rejected Greek demands to withdraw.
Longstanding disputes over the position of the border arise from the fact the Evros River, which marks it out, often shifts its course.
The movement leaves land that is technically part of Greece to the river's east, and land that is technically part of Turkey to its West.
The invasion was reportedly a response to a Greek army survey of the 1.6-hectare site as part of plans to build additional border fences.
Turkey currently hosts more than four million refugees from Syria and other countries affected by conflict in the region.
Earlier this year around 10,000 people gathered at the Greek-Turkish border after the government in Ankara announced it would no longer stop them trying to cross.
Pictures and videos at the time showed refugees attempting to make the perilous crossing across the Evros River and into Greece.
In March, Bulgarian authorities, at the request of Greece, opened the Ivaylovgrad Dam upstream to widen the river and make it more difficult to cross.
RELATIONS STRAINED
Relations between Greece and Turkey have long been tense, but have been particularly so since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The invasion was launched purportedly to stop the military junta in Greece establishing a union between Greece and Cyprus, whose population included both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
The subsequent occupation, which displaced around 200,000 people on both sides of the island, remains in place today and is considered illegal under international law.
Turkey’s provocations towards Greece have mounted under hardline President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Four times in recent weeks, Greek soldiers and German border agency staff have been shot at over the border and Turkish F-16 fighter jets have frequently had to be chased out of Greek airspace.
Greece is reportedly trying to de-escalate tensions through diplomatic channels and has not yet made an official response.
An aerial photo of the land seizedCredit: Google Earth
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