Greece

ATHENS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of European Union (EU) institutions expressed on Tuesday their support for Greece and determination for a common European response to the refugee, migrant challenge after a visit to the Greek-Turkish land border.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — Thousands of migrants and refugees searched for ways to cross Greece’s border with Turkey on Tuesday, as Athens ramped up its diplomatic efforts for help from the European Union to seal off its eastern land and sea frontiers.

Turkey has made good on a threat to open its borders for those seeking to cross into Europe. Many hoping to enter Greece, which has made clear its border is shut, were trying their luck by wading or rowing across the Evros River that runs along most of the land frontier.

MYTILENE (Greece), March 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — Greece has adopted a tougher stance and is treating the migration challenge as a national security issue, Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos said.

The Greek official was referring to thousands of people gathered at the country’s land border with Turkey in the past few days and hundreds still crossing the Aegean Sea on dinghies.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — A child died when a boat full of migrants heading to a Greek island capsized Monday, part of a wave of thousands trying to push through Greece’s land and sea borders.

The child’s death was the first since neighboring Turkey announced Thursday it was easing restrictions on those wishing to cross to Europe, and thousands of migrants began massing at the frontiers with Greece.

MYTILENE, Greece, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Greece on Sunday decided to increase the level of deterrence at its borders to the maximum, as the country is facing a forthcoming increased refugee and migrant influx recently.

The Greek government also criticized Turkey for allegedly "directing and encouraging" the increased refugee and migrant flows to its borders in the past few days.

01 Mar 2020; MEMO: Greek police fired teargas to push back hundreds of migrants trying to cross over the border from Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union’s doorstep, Reuters reports.

Greece, which has tense relations with Turkey at the best of times, accused Ankara of sending the migrants to the border post in an organised “onslaught” and said it would keep them out.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — Syria’s official news agency said two of its warplane were shot down by Turkish forces inside northwest Syria, amid a military escalation there that’s led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces.

SANA says the jets were targeted over the Idlib region, and that the four pilots ejected with parachutes and landed safely. These confrontations have added to soaring tensions between Turkey and Russia, which support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — The United Nations said Sunday that at least 13,000 people were massed on Turkey’s land border with Greece, after Turkey officially declared its western borders were open to migrants and refugees hoping to head into the European Union.

Turkey’s decision to open the borders with Greece came amid a military escalation in Syria’s northwest that has led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces.

KASTANIES, Greece (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas towards migrants gathered on its border with Turkey on Saturday, as a crisis over Syria shifted onto the European Union’s doorstep.

Greece, which has tense relations with its neighbor Turkey at the best of times and was a primary gateway for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016, reiterated it would keep migrants out.

“The government will do whatever it takes to protect its borders,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters.

ATHENS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Greece proceeds to the upgrade of controls at its borders on land and at sea as part of measures to address both the migrant flows and the novel coronavirus outbreak, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.

With three confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Greece within 24 hours -- a woman and her child in Thessaloniki city in the north and another woman in Athens, Greek authorities are implementing measures to avert the spread of the virus.