Greece to build fence on Turkish border to fight illegal immigration

Greece to build fence on Turkish border to fight illegal immigration

2011-01-04 11:05:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

ATHENS, GREECE (BNO NEWS) -- Greece's Citizen's Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis on Saturday announced a plan to build a borderline fence to fight off illegal immigration from Turkey, local media reported on Monday.

Papoutsis on Monday stated that in the past year Greece had around 128,000 illegal immigrants come into the country, Athens News reported, adding that in the last four years, an estimated 512,000 people crossed into the country.

Greece's border is a common entry line to Afghans, Algerians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Somalis, among other nations in search of better luck in the European Union (EU). In November, the EU's Frontex external border patrol agency sent 200 agents to Greece to guard its border areas. where 80 percent of EU's illegal immigrants reportedly enter the region.

"From Turkey alone in the first 11 months of 2010 about 50,000 illegal immigrants came in, of whom 43,500 from the Evros prefecture," the minister stated. "This is the tough reality and we have a responsibility towards Greek citizens to deal with it."

On Saturday, Papoutsis said Greek society had "reached its limit in taking in illegal immigrants."

"Cooperation with the other EU states is going well," Papoutsis added, stating that along with the EU, Greece will be constructing a 206-kilometer (128-mile) fence along its border to deal with illegal immigration.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-04