From the envoy to Kastanies a calm perhaps with the hours counted that which dominates the hottest stretch of the border between Greece and Turkey from the other night. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promises to send a thousand of his best trained special forces to compare the Greek leather heads engaged in repelling migrants (according to Ankara there would have been three deaths among the refugees, while Athens rejects the accusations). All this happens in the shadow of the new ceasefire agreements in the Idlib region. Just the rekindling of the war in Syria between December and January had been at the origin of the new crisis on migrants. A crisis in which Erdogan’s troops have come close to an open confrontation with the Russian military forces allied to the government of Damascus led by President Bashar Assad.
The agreements have been reached yesterday after more than six hours of intense face-to-face talks between the Turkish President and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The leaders will also have taken into account the strong economic interests between the two countries, including recent energy agreements. The agreement provides for a ceasefire from midnight last, accompanied by the creation of a 12-kilometer-wide security corridor patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops along the disputed area of the M4 highway that connects Damascus to Aleppo. Putin will now have to make sure that Damascus troops are willing to accept the persistence of the Turkish military presence in Syria.
meanwhile, it is still to be assessed whether the Syrian agreement, in which Europe played no role, will be able to decrease tension on the Greek border. Here, in fact, the news of the arrival of the new troops sent by Erdogan sees the risk of a direct clash with the Greek ones growing. In this case, thousands of tired, disappointed and victims of political and military dynamics they do not control at all would once again pay.
All day yesterday there were no attempts of irruption by migrants crowded into the fields and forest areas between the outskirts of Edirne and the barbed wires along the border. The slogans shouted by the younger ones were confused with the press releases in Arabic and English spread by the Greek armored cars: Closed area, the border remains tight, go back. But no stone throwing and almost no tear gas, as it had been until Wednesday evening. Even the most remote areas along the Evros River seemed quiet, with few Greek police cars wearily patrolling the landings near the villages.
Visiting the Kastanies area Francesco Rocca, the 54-year-old Italian president of the International Federation of the Red Cross, has come and insisted on the duties of the international community and in particular of the Europeans. It is unacceptable that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has used the word “shield of Europe” to summarize EU policy on the Greek border. When it comes to the shield, weapons are expected on the other side. But here it is about human beings. For even Erdogan cannot use migrants as a political weapon of pressure, Rocca al Corriere said without skimping on the European delegation’s visit to Kastanies three days ago and on the EU statements of strong support for the closure of the border by Athens. The Red Cross is trying to have access to no man’s land on both sides of the border to bring basic necessities and health support to those stranded there.
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