Is Greece building Europe’s wall?
It is almost as if some EU member countries that don’t want Turkey’s accession have become stuck because they seem to be desperately searching for new exclusionist measures. These EU countries also act as if Turkey is not in the middle of a technical process, called the “accession negotiations,” which carries legal obligations and rights.
As everyone knows, the history of the relationship between Turkey and Greece is far from being a tale of good neighbors. Despite this, a new period appeared to be dawning, with small steps being taken and we were able to say, at least until recently, that Greece wasn’t one of the main obstacles to Turkey’s accession to the EU. Moreover, Greece had regularly announced that it was supportive of Turkey’s efforts to join the EU, and the two countries had decided not to make the EU process and the Cyprus issue variables of the Turkey-Greece relationship. Thanks to this atmosphere, new initiatives for cooperation became possible across the Aegean Sea, and the two neighbors had stopped considering each other as a military threat.
The enviroment was promising. However, recent news reports have the potential to put an end to this positive atmosphere once and for all. First, the European Union’s agency for external border security, Frontex, has been deployed at the Turkish-Greek border in the fight against illegal immigration. One mustn’t think that Greece is a very attractive country for immigrants or that this country’s social fabric is under risk because of massive immigration from the East. Naturally, the problem is not that these people stay in Greece but they pass through on their way to other Western European countries.
Despite the image generated by this measure, Turkey is actually not the main route for illegal immigrants headed toward the EU: The most important crossing points are often from Ukraine and Northern Africa. Nevertheless, there is one important detail: The EU insists on a readmission agreement with Turkey while the latter is taking its time because it doesn’t have this kind of agreement with third party countries which are often the source of the illegal immigrants. If there is a readmission agreement between Turkey and the EU, Turkey will have to take back all immigrants who have transited through Turkey without having a chance of deporting them to their countries of origin.
In this context, Greece has made a critical decision, which is nothing but shameful for the 21st century. A 206-kilometer wall will be erected along the Maritsa River, justifying its existence by the presence of a similar border fence between Mexico and the United States. If a wall is necessary on the land, we can guess that the security measures will also be strengthened in the sea, which is an omen for renewed tension in the Aegean.
It’s not known if the EU will be protected from immigration as a result of the Greek wall, but at a time when Albanians no longer need a visa to travel to Schengen countries, Greece may do better to build a longer wall to cover all its land borders. It would be reminiscent of Israel, which has, in doing so, become a country that has put itself in a prison while trying to protect its borders. Maybe this wall idea came from the Israelis with whom Greeks are now good friends.
This wall symbolizes one and only thing -- declaring physically that Turkey is outside of Europe. Maybe the partners who have helped Greece economically have asked for this favor. In other words, maybe those who have provided the money asked for this contribution to exclude Turkey from Europe. Greece shouldn’t forget that it’s always the third party countries that benefit from Turkish-Greek tensions. This wall will probably not stop the immigration, but it can definitely terminate the confidence between the two neighbors.
declaring physically that Turkey is outside of Europe
Do these people not have maps?
What about Turks? 
