Greek officials are bracing themselves for a growing wave of refugees from war-torn Syria, as measures to reduce the inflow of illegal immigrants via the Greek-Turkish border in the Evros are now set to put a strain on Greece’s Eastern-Aegean and Dodecanese islands.
Already, reports from Lesvos and Samos speak about a significant rise in the number of refugees and illegal immigrants that have landed on their shores from Turkey. The concern right now is that this wave will grow, if the civil war in Syria escalates. The only thing that is certain is that the Greek state, and especially the islands near Turkey are very ill-equipped to deal with such a large influx and this is because sorting the illegal immigrants from the refugees is an insurmountable problem, and obviously islands officials do not have the necessary infrastructure and proper equipment to do so.
The Greek government launched a police operation dubbed “Xenios Zeus” in early August to crack down on illegal immigration by holding frequent identity checks and by fortifying Greece’s northern border with Turkey. According to the first estimates the measures in Evros have proven effective, but traffickers and smugglers from Turkey have now switched to alternative routes into Greece and the European Union, and this is via the Greek islands.
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