ABTTF President: ‘Given the huge wave of migration from Afghanistan, and in the event that a sound immigration and asylum policy is not implemented, the likelihood that racist attacks such as the one that took place in Crete are perpetrated in other parts of the country will only increase’
A racist attack was carried out on refugees living on the Greek island of Crete. In the village of Agios Georgios in Crete, a group of about 10 people stormed two houses of 15 Pakistani refugees with guns and sticks, according to media reports. The assailants, who fired guns and smashed things, beat up the refugees. Fifteen refugees, two of them seriously, were treated at health clinics and hospitals in the area. Police launched an investigation following the attack.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: ‘We are deeply concerned about the armed attack on refugees in Crete and we demand that the police and authorities carry out the necessary investigation in this respect. While acknowledging the heavy burden that our country shoulders as regards migration and refugees, it is clear that the steps taken in this regard are incomplete and wrong. As stated in a report published by Amnesty International Greece in June 2021, our country is violently pushing back those seeking asylum as part of border politics in the Evros River region. Amnesty says our country’s human rights abuses have ‘become a routine practice’. When we consider that one of the countries that will be most affected by the possible great wave of migration from Afghanistan will be our country again, violations against refugees and asylum seekers in our country may increase. If a sound immigration and asylum policy is not implemented, similar racist attacks in Crete may also be more likely to occur in other parts of the country. For this reason, our country must be able to produce policies that are in accordance with its international obligations, rather than denying criticism from emanating from the EU countries that indicate that it is illegally pushing back asylum seekers to Turkey from the sea’.
