Turkish soldiers have fired live rounds at German border guards on the Greek-Turkish border.
It is unclear what sparked the incident, but it appears that a German guard was looking at Turkish soldiers through a pair of binoculars, the Turkish soldier gestured at the guard and went away. When he returned with an automatic weapon he opened fire. Several other Turkish soldiers aimed their weapons towards those on the Greek side of the border. No one was hurt in the incident.
The German Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that the incident took place and the Greek authorities are now conducting their own investigation.
German border guards are in Greece with European border protection agency Frontex. Frontex is part of a Europe-wide mission to stop the illegal entry to Europe by refugees and other groups of people. Frontex has been ongoing for a number of years and there are currently around 60 German border-guards stationed in Greece.
Recently 20 more German guards have been supplied to Greece along with a sea-patrol helicopter.
Another act of aggression against Frontex occurred on the Greek-Turkish border earlier in the month. In this incident, Turkish planes tracked a Danish reconnaissance jet for a number of minutes. This caused fear and alarm.
The Greek-Turkish border has been one of the key European borders since the refugee crisis started in 2015. In 2015, a huge flood of refugees made their way into Turkey following the civil war in Syria, many of whom have sought entry to Greece as a way of eventually heading towards Germany and other northern-European countries, where they have then sought asylum.
While many refugees are Syrian, a large number have also come from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere, making use of the fact that national borders in many Middle-Eastern states have broken down as a result of the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Many make the perilous journey by boat from Turkey to the Greek islands. Thousands, unable to move through Greece, have been left in huge refugee camps on the islands.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan has at times opened the border to Greece and allowed refugees to make the journey freely, in an attempt to undermine the EU and extract political and economic concession from the bloc. In effect, the Turkish state has used the refugees as a political weapon against their neighbours.
[h/t: Spiegel; Greek City Times]
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