View of a border fence between Greece and Turkey, in Alexandroupolis, Greece
(Picture: REUTERS)Greece has put up a 40km (25-mile) fence on its border with Turkey over growing concerns about a wave of migrants fleeing Afghanistan.
New surveillance systems were also installed to beef up the security around the country to help monitor the situation.
Thousands of desperate people have been trying to escape Afghanistan after the country fell into the hands of the Taliban and the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made a getaway to the UEA.
Greece’s Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis said Greece’s borders would not be broken during a visit to the region of Evros on Friday.
He said: “We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact. Our borders will remain inviolable.”
Chrisochoidis revealed the extension on the 12.5km fence had been completed in recent days.
Turkey urged other European countries to take responsibility for Afghan migrants.
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation unfolding in Afghanistan over the phone.
Turkey’s President said the surge in people escaping Afghanistan would be a “serious challenge for everyone”.
He said: “A new wave of migration is inevitable if the necessary measures are not taken in Afghanistan and in Iran.”
Greece was on the frontline of the migrant crisis in 2015.
At the time, nearly a million people running away from war and poverty in the Middle East made their way to Greece from Turkey.
