Evros

Turkish fighter jets flew over northern Evros, the Greek-Turkish land border, on Wednesday, in an indication of Ankara's determination on ratcheting up tensions. 

Specifically, a pair of Turkish F-16s conducted an overflight over northern Evros, at an altitude ranging between 10,000 and 500 feet, at 2.50 p.m.

There is evidence of a sharp increase in aggressive behavior by Turkish security forces in both the Aegean and at the Evros land border, Kathimerini has learned. 

Late on Wednesday, officers of Turkey's special forces fired over a Greek military vehicle that had been stationed on the Greek side of the border, Kathimerini reports. 

The Greek Police (ELAS) is concerned about a possible mass push by undocumented migrants at the Turkish land border, assisted by Turkish officials, Kathimerini understands.

ELAS' worries stem from witness accounts by both police and armed forces officers according to which Turkish forces have opened up a road parallel to the banks of the River Evros to help migrants pass.

Foreign media and some politicians in Europe have rushed to criticize Greece for the way it is treating the refugees and migrants stuck at the Greek-Turkish border in Evros. Without wanting to gloss over the situation or conceal possible isolated incidents, the reality is that the Greek state is managing a very difficult situation, not only with efficiency but also calmly and responsibly.

Austria and Poland have agreed to send dozens of police officers to help their colleagues in northern Greece hold the Greek-Turkish border against an influx of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants being spurred on by Ankara to push through the frontier into the European Union, Kathimerini understands.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed during talks on Monday in Berlin that they would wait for the next European Union leaders' summit on March 26-27 to evaluate Ankara's behavior and ascertain whether there is any good will on its part for a solution to the migration crisis. 

Greek Police said it found on Monday afternoon the decomposed body on the banks of the Evros river, the natural border that separates Greece from Turkey.

The local police station of Feres has ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Turkey's deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran has criticized Greece and the European Union over the situation at the Evros border, going as far as to compare the alleged treatment of migrants seeking to cross the frontier with conditions prevailing at Nazi death camps at Auschwitz.

Greek border police stopped 2,867 migrants from entering Greece illegally at the Greek-Turkish border in the Evros region in the last 24 hours, government sources scited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported.

According to those sources, eight people were arrested, of which seven were from Afghanistan and one from Syria. 

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will support its Greek chapter with an initial 300,000 euros, its president Francesco Rocca said on Thursday after his visit to the Kastanies border station at the Greek-Turkish border in the Evros region.