The migrant crisis reaches the Greek border and brings European Union leaders there

Copyright 2020 NPR. To learn more, visit https://www.npr.org.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The main leaders of the European Union were in Greece today, promising to keep the EU border with Turkey. Thousands of migrants are waiting on the Turkish side to enter Europe, but Greece refuses to let them pass, and Greece has suspended asylum requests for anyone who sneaks in. Joanna Kakissis reports.

(Audio extract from the press conference)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON # 1: (speaking Greek).

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was flanked by top EU officials during a press conference in the border town of Kastanies. On the other side of this city, thousands of migrants learned last Friday from Turkey that the way to Europe was open. They want to enter. Mitsotakis did everything he could to prevent them from entering.

(EXCERPT FROM ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS: We are sending a very, very clear signal that migrants and refugees cannot be used as instruments, like pawns in a geopolitical game. They are the real victims of this type of policy. If Europe wants to protect its citizens, it must be able to protect its borders.

KAKISSIS: European leaders see migration as a destabilizing problem. They don't want a repeat of 2015, when European nationalists took advantage of the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers to split the bloc. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised unity this time.

(EXCERPT FROM ARCHIVED RECORDING)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN: Now is the time for concerted action and cool heads and to act on our values. Turkey is not an enemy and the people are not just a means to an end.

KAKISSIS: The goal she's referring to is Turkey's desire to get stronger European support for migration. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is concerned that the recent fighting around Idlib in northern Syria will bring more refugees to his country.

(EXCERPT FROM ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: (by the interpreter) We have been welcoming 4 million refugees for years, and now there will be another 1.5 million at our border. Months ago, I said, if the West does not share this burden, we will open the doors.

KAKISSIS: Turkey has helped to significantly reduce the number of refugees arriving in Europe after 2016. The EU has promised Turkey billions of euros to care for migrants, but funding for this program is exhausted. Today, the European Union grants Greece up to 700 million euros to manage migration at the gates of Europe. This includes improving conditions in migrant camps on the Greek islands. But it is feared that the Greek public opinion on migrants has gone from a warm welcome in 2015 to an overtly racist and violent discourse today.

(EXCERPT FROM ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: (speaking Greek).

KAKISSIS: On the island of Lesbos, the angry residents in this video are shouted at migrants who are trying to land ashore. They tell them to return to Turkey.

(EXCERPT FROM ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON # 2: (speaking Greek).

KAKISSIS: And in a particularly disturbing video shared on social media, Greek Coast Guard ships are seen circling an inflatable raft filled with terrified migrants. The Greeks push them with stems, pushing them away while they howl. At one point, a sailor draws his weapon near their boat.

(GUNFIRE SOUND)

KAKISSIS: Watching all of this made Eva Cosse of Human Rights Watch physically ill.

EVA COSSE: So it has to stop immediately, and it has to happen with the condemnation of the highest levels of government.

KAKISSIS: Unless the EU makes it clear that asylum seekers will be treated with respect and humanity, she says, she cannot see herself as a beacon of human rights ;man.

For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.

(Sound extract from RUN RIVER NORTH SONG, "(FUNERAL) PARADE (INTRO)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.