On Thursday (June 22), Greek police rescued 145 migrants stranded on an islet in the Evros river which marks Greece's border with Turkey. That's according to Athens News Agency - Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA), citing a statement from the regional police directorate.

A unit of the Greek branch of the Red Cross present at the scene said the 70 men, 45 women and 30 children were in "good health," ANA-MPA reported. The group of migrants were given first aid, food and clothing by Greek authorities, according to ANA-MPA.

Authorities were reportedly informed by a nonprofit that the group was located on the islet at the location of Marasia, a very small village on the Greek side of the river, located not far from the major city of Edirne on the Turkish side.

Nationalities not yet disclosed

According to news agency AFP, citing the same police statement, the migrants were abandoned on the islet by traffickers coming from Turkey. While there was no immediate information on the migrants' identities as of the publication of this article, ANA-MPA reported that migrants entering Greece without valid documents are usually taken for registration and identification purposes to the Pre-Departure Holding Center for Foreigners (PROKEKA) in Orestiada, located 20 kilometers south of Marasia.

In May, a group of 17 Syrian migrants, including eight children, were rescued by police from another such small island in the Evros river.

In June, Greek authorities rescued 91 Yazidi migrants in the same area. Yazidis are a persecuted, Kurdish-speaking minority living mainly in Iraq.

Also in June, dozens of migrants reportedly crossed from Turkey into Greece via the Evros. A total of 138 migrants, including a large number of children, were reportedly found by border guards and rescue teams on a small islet on the Greek side of the river.

Border row at the expense of migrants

"It is not the first time that smugglers have pushed migrants towards Greek territory," Panayiotis Harelas, head of the Greek border guard federation, told AFP.

The Greek government often blames its Turkish counterpart for allegedly allowing migrants to cross into Greece without interference. But numerous human rights organizations as well as the UN have accused Greek authorities of using illegal pushback methods to make sure that migrants stay in Turkey.

There have also been a series of allegations of Greek authorities using violence during these pushbacks.

After numbers of irregular crossings using the land route between the two neighboring countries have more or less stagnated in recent years, the figure for roughly the first six months of 2023 was significantly lower than what was observed during the first half of 2022.

According to the latest figures made public by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Greek authorities have registered more than 1,500 irregular migrant arrivals from Turkey via the Evros river so far this year.

This compares to more than 2,700 during roughly the same period last year. Overall, nearly 7,000 people arrived in Greece irregularly this year, according to authorities.

Plans to seal off land border

Despite the vast majority of migrants continuing to arrive in Greece from Turkey by sea, the Greek government has expressed plans to seal off its land border with Turkey.

There already is a 38-kilometer-long border fence along parts of the Evros river, which the conservative government has promised to extend by another 80 kilometers. The government, led by popular Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is widely expected to win the national elections this Sunday (June 25), and thus have its mandate renewed.

Despite a strict migration policy and security clampdown, which includes more patrols in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey with the help of the European border agency, Frontex, migrant tragedies continue in the eastern Mediterranean region.

According to the UN migration agency IOM, 644 people have been recorded missing so far this year. This number includes the hundreds of people who died in the June 14 shipwreck off southwest Greece -- one of the worst disasters involving a migrant boat in years.

with AFP