The Greek government has released a night-vision video which they claim shows a Turkish armoured vehicle obtained through European Union funding trying to rip down border fencing and allow illegal migrants to penetrate the Greek border.

A statement released along with the video said it was “depicting a Turkish armoured border surveillance vehicle which tries to pull down part of the border fence with a rope”, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini and the Associated Press.

“This is a HIZAR/ATES vehicle, which is equipped with instruments that allow it to monitor the border (day and night),” the statement claimed.

“Turkey obtained these vehicles from May to August 2019, with 75 per cent of the program financed by European funds. It has a powerful engine and climbing capabilities.”

GREECE TURKEY BORDER FENCE – NEW VIDEO

Video released by the Greek government purports to show a Turkish armoured vehicle trying to pull down part of the border fence.

STORY# 4258450 — AP Video Alert (@AP_VideoAlert) March 8, 2020

It is not the first time the Islamist government of Turkey, which “opened the gates” for migrants as punishment for, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saw it, Europe’s insufficient support for his invasion of northern Syria to crush Kurdish forces and prop up al-Qaeda-linked rebels fighting the Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government, has been accused of aiding would-be illegal migrants.

The fact that the Turkish authorities have provided transport for migrants, not just from Syria but from all over Asia and Africa, to reach the frontier is not denied, and has even been promoted — but they are also accused of providing violent migrants with tear gas, targetting Greek border guards with tear gas directly, and organising mass assaults on the border with the use of drones.

The Turks do not deny firing tear gas at Greek personnel, although they claim this has only been done in response to the Greeks firing tear gas at them.

Turkish interior minister Süleyman Soylu has been fairly clear that his government’s current stance is punitive by design, however, telling CNN that he expects by the time one million migrants breach the Greek border — which also forms part of the European Union’s common external border — Europe’s economies will deteriorate, the stock market will tumble, and governments will fall out of office.

President Erdogan has indicated that the current policy will not change until the bloc’s stance on Syria changes to his satisfaction.

Turkey on Migrant Wave: European Govts Will Fall, Stock Markets Will Collapse https://t.co/bXL0LkqXcp — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 9, 2020

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery