Since Turkey opened its borders to Europe on Friday, several thousand people have rushed to Greece. – ARIS MESSINIS / AFP
The tension rises between Turkey, which has opened its borders to Europe Friday, and Greece, which is facing the influx of several thousand
migrants.
According to several media reports, Turkey accuses Greek coast guards of trying to sink a boat for migrants on the high seas. 20 minutes takes stock of this massively shared video on social networks.
Where does the video come from?
According to several media, in particular the Turkish daily Hürriyet,
the British news channel Sky News and
the Middle East Eye website, the video was allegedly transmitted by the Turkish authorities themselves. But the exact provenance, place and date of these images remain impossible to determine at the moment.
Footage released by Turkish government shows Greek coast guard this morning tried to sink a refugee boat off the Bodrum coast pic.twitter.com/W3h5mfqwCC
– Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) March 2, 2020
What do we see on the video?
The very content of the video is questionable. We see a pneumatic boat with about twenty people on board and a speedboat, described by the Turkish authorities as the boat of the Greek coast guards. Ankara claims that the latter attempted to puncture the migrants’ inflatable boat with a pole. However, nothing confirms this version.
At the end of the video, several shots seem to be fired by the coast guard in the direction of the small boat. Again, it is impossible to determine whether the coast guard (if he is a coast guard) deliberately aimed at the inflatable boat or was it aimed at firing it away.
What is the context?
Friday, Turkey has opened its borders with Europe, letting go
several thousand people to Greece, a worrying situation for Europe, which fears a migration crisis similar to that of 2015. The opening of borders by Turkey comes at a time when it is seeking support in Syria where it has launched a major military operation against the Bashar regime al-Assad, after suffering heavy losses.
Ankara justified the opening of the borders by its inability to face a new migratory wave, while nearly a million people displaced by the Syrian regime’s offensive in Idleb are massed on the Turkish border at the moment. Despite the muscular measures taken by Athens, whose forces fire tear gas canisters and use water cannons, thousands of migrants have already crossed the border between Turkey and Greece.
–
