Greece will look to extend the fence on its northeastern border with Turkey by approximately 50 miles.
On Friday, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said Greece cannot be a free-for-all and that Turkey is not a country at war.
“We cannot talk about a closed Europe, but we also cannot have a Europe where it’s the traffickers who decide who gets in,” Mitarakis is quoted as saying by Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
“Humanitarianism is very important, but there are millions of people who want to get into the EU because of the inequalities in the world,” the minister said.
Referring to the Greek authorities’ recent rescue of 38 migrants from a small islet in the Evros River, Mitarakis countered claims from main opposition party SYRIZA that the islet is Greek territory, saying that army ordinance and the cadaster maps showed otherwise.
On Monday, Greek police found 35 Syrians and three Palestinians, among them one pregnant woman and seven children, who had been hiding on the islet after crossing the river from Turkey.
The Greek Foreign Ministry accused Turkey of ‘weaponizing migration’ in response.
