Tens of thousands of migrants have been trying to get into Greece, an EU member state, since Turkey said it would no longer try to keep them on its territory as agreed in 2016 with the EU in return for billions of euros in aid. In turn Greek authorities are attempting to prevent the migrants from entering the country after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of neighboring Turkey, said his government had ‘opened the doors’ for their passage into Greece and, the European Union. Greece has taken a host of steps in response to Erdogan’s decision, including deploying forces to the border, suspending asylum applications and vowing to deport those who enter the country illegally. An estimated 1.2 million immigrants lived in Greece in 2017, according to data from the United Nations. They made up roughly 11% of Greece’s population that year. However Greece’s unauthorized immigrant population is a small part of its overall immigrant population. In 2017, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 unauthorized immigrants lived in Greece, according to PEW Center estimates. This was far lower than in several other European countries, including Germany, the UK and France.
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & CEO, ZUMA Press
