by PAUL ANTONOPOULOS
Greek City Times Advertise
Athens has taken diplomatic steps towards Turkey following an order from Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on the issue that has arisen in a part of southern Evros, where Turkish forces are occupying sovereign Greek land, according to diplomatic sources cited by Kathimerini.
On Thursday, Turkish soldiers and police special forces made a permanent presence within Greek territory and camped in the pocket of Apiary at Feres to enhance their presence, as reported by Greek City Times.
The occupied areas are even shown on Google Maps as a part of Greece.
Greek Foreign Ministry makes first moves against Turkey's occupation of land at Evros 3
The occupation is at South Evros, Meliskokeio, which is located in a place that floods every year after autumn.
Even maps from 1923 shows that the area belongs to Greece.
The riverbed has moved with a swamp now in its place which dries up in summer and floods in winter, creating an islet there. Turkey is taking advantage of this seasonal change to the riverbed to claim an area of about 16 acres. There has been grievances in the past, but there is now a steady presence of Turkish security forces in the area, which is hampering the work of the Army’s Geographical Service officials to complete the settlement of the area from the Greek side, in view of the expansion of the fence to South Evros.
On a practical level, Athens cites the maps with which the borders were drawn in 1923 and since then some parts of it have been reaffirmed, precisely because of the need to calculate the adjustments that have taken place due to the change of the river flow in some places.
For the Greek side, this particular obstacle practically creates issues in the effort made in recent months for the expansion of the fence in South Evros, but also for the fortification of the area, so that in case of a repeat illegal immigration scenario orchestrated by Turkey like in March, the chances are minimised.
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