Last Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared he would open the country's border, allowing migrants and refugees to make their way to the Greek frontier. Since then, thousands of people have streamed to Turkey's Pazarkule border crossing with Greece near the Turkish city of Edirne.

Greek border guards, however, have tightened security. They are deploying tear gas and water cannon to drive away migrants and refugees attempting to cross the border. Observers have reported that Turkish authorities have been firing tear gas as well.

Footage of these dramatic scenes has gone around world — showing men, women and children fleeing clouds of tear gas and Greek coast guard officers firing warning shots to force migrant vessels to turn back towards Turkey.

Watch video 03:23 'Playing ping-pong with people' – DW's Julia Hahn reports from the Turkish border with Greece

Read more: Migrants at Turkish-Greek border: 'We want another life'

Will 2015 repeat itself?

These images are reminiscent of the 2015 refugee crisis, when, at some point, up to 10,000 refugees and migrants were arriving in Greece each day. Ankara and Athens, however, are capitalizing on these dramatic events unfolding along their border to further their own political agenda.

Ankara is keen to cast a particularly dramatic image of the situation, with Turkey's Minister of Industry and Technology accusing Athens of having granted protection to "terrorists involved in the July 15 coup attempt" on Twitter. The minister added that "this (Greek) government is now shooting down innocent refugees" and that "Greece will never rid itself of this disgraceful episode in its history."

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has also been commenting on the situation at Pazarkule via Twitter. He recently claimed, for example, "this morning at 11:00 a.m., another person died, and human rights abuses continue unabated." Soylu sends updates as to how many migrants and refugees have supposedly already made it into Greece. Last Wednesday, he claimed that 135,844 individuals had crossed the border. Greek authorities, however, have not commented on these figures.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster On the run Traffic is heavy on the roads heading north through the Idlib region toward the Turkish border. Soldiers of the Assad regime are advancing from the south and east, aided by their Russian and Iranian allies. Some Syrian rebel groups are supported by Turkey, which also has soldiers of its own in the region. But ordinary people just want to reach safety.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster 'Horror has multiplied' Almost 1 million people have been displaced since December. According to UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, "the horror has multiplied" in the past two weeks. The front lines are closing in, triggering large movements of people in the space of just a few days. Assad wants to drive the civilian population out of Idlib province, and is moving to capture this last rebel stronghold.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Bombed to pieces Maaret al-Numan and the surrounding area has been particularly badly hit by the attacks. The city has been bombed to pieces and is practically deserted. The important M5 highway runs through here, from Damascus via Aleppo to the Turkish border. Most of those fleeing are trying to make it to Turkey — but the border is closed.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Waiting at the border Around 100 people, including 35 children, died in bombings in the first half of February alone, according to the United Nations, which has spoken of the "blatant disregard for the life and safety of civilians." This family fled to the Turkish border months ago. They're living in the Kafr Lusin refugee camp, holding on to the hope that Turkey will eventually let them in.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster 500,000 children in need Out of the almost 1 million people who have fled it's estimated that around half are children. Of the rest, the majority are women. There aren't enough shacks at the Turkish border to house them all, and many refugees are living in tents. Camps are often set up in haste and are severely overcrowded. People are sleeping in doorways and on pieces of cardboard, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Little food and medicine Those who have been able to find a tent usually share it with about a dozen family members. Medicine is running out in many of the camps, and basic food and clothing is also becoming scarce. Doctors on the ground report that many children are suffering from malnutrition, and some are even dying of starvation. The cold is also taking its toll, and some people have already frozen to death.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Refuge in a school Many children in the region can no longer go to school, so some school buildings have been repurposed. This school has been turned into a refugee shelter — sometimes, even the refugee camps are targeted in bombing raids.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Trying to reach safety The illegal route across the border to Turkey is costly; hardly anyone can afford it. Smugglers are charging people up to $2,000 (about €1,800). Those who do make the attempt are risking their lives: Turkish border guards have thermal imaging cameras to help them spot people trying to cross. Sometimes they shoot at refugees who try to climb over the wall.

Syria's Idlib: A humanitarian disaster Looking for dignity The UN has said the situation in Idlib could be the greatest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century. No one knows whether or not there will be a ceasefire. The refugees don't care who puts an end to the war; they just want a life of safety and dignity, for themselves and for their children. A four-way summit between Turkey, Russia, France and Germany, planned for March 5, is now in jeopardy. Author: Diana Hodali



Read more: DW examines new migration tension between EU, Turkey

Turkish media rails against Europe

According to the Human Rights Center of the Istanbul Bar Association, only about 2,000 individuals have gathered at Pazarkule border crossing. DW reporter Tunca Ögreten estimates that no more than 3,000 people are waiting there at this moment.

Turkish pro-Erdogan media outlets have been churning out an endless stream of reports claiming that Greece is callously turning back individuals who have fled hunger, desperation and war. Many Turkish papers are portraying the EU, and Greece in particular, as "cruel" and "brutal" for rejecting migrants and refugees.

Yeni Akit, an Islamic fundamentalist Turkish daily, ran a headline claiming: "Refugees are bombed, the West has lost its humanitarian guise." Another stated: "Unscrupulous Europe. Migrants are forced back, without compassion for women and children." Akşam, another Turkish daily, echoed this sentiment, writing: "Europe does not care about this drama. The Greeks let them die. And Turkey's armed forces saved them."

Read more: Are Germany and the EU prepared for a new influx of refugees?

Many Turks hostile towards refugees

Turkey, which currently hosts some 3.6 million refugees, is keen to share this burden with other countries. Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly railed against Greece and the rest of Europe for doing too little to help. Since the Turkish economic crisis in the summer of 2018, hostility against the millions of refugees in the country has grown. According to pollster Türkeitrend, 87.1% of Turks are unhappy with the government's policy towards them.

Yet Athens, too, has been casting the border situation in an overly dramatic light. Greek authorities claimed to have prevented 28,000 refugees from breaching the border, saying that merely 220 made it across. Eyewitnesses, however, told DW that between 1,000 and 2,000 individuals crossed into Greece legally.

Watch video 03:43 Share Refugees pushed from all sides Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3YtOD Refugees pushed from both sides of the Turkey-EU border

Athens is eager to signal that its border is sealed and that everything is under control. Some Greek media outlets, meanwhile, have been running sensationalist headlines and stoking fears. Like Kathimerini, a conservative daily, which recently ran the headline: "Permanent danger of asymmetrical war on border." Ultra-nationalist paper Makeleio, in turn, has suggested invading Turkey for a "re-run of 1821." The date refers to the Greek revolution, which brought it independence from the Ottoman Empire.

On the Greek evening news, meanwhile, commentators have been stoking nationalist sentiments and creating the impression that the country finds itself in a war-like situation under siege from "invaders" and "intruders."

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin announced a temporary ceasefire in Idlib on Thursday after difficult talks in Moscow.

Read more: Turkey and Russia announce temporary Syria ceasefire

Athens vs Ankara

Conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis seems glad to capitalize on the tumultuous border situation to portray himself as a man of action, determined to fight the specter of mass immigration. Indeed, surveys show that a majority of Greeks view this as his most pressing challenge to date. Mitsotakis himself has deployed highly dramatic rhetoric as well, accusing Turkey of being the "world's biggest human trafficker," and saying Greece faces an "invasion of people of unknown origin."

Many migrants and refugees stranded at Pazarkule border crossing share the dream of one day living in Germany, Austria or Scandinavia. What Turkey and Greece, in turn, have in common is that they both instrumentalize the situation for their own political purposes. While Turkey is effectively blackmailing the West, Greece is seizing the moment to stir up nationalist sentiment.

Watch video 01:20 Share Stuck in limbo at the border Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3YsBU Stuck in limbo at the border between Turkey and Greece

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