There is a real cruelty to what’s happening here.
Sitting on the riverbank in a small Turkish town on the border with Greece, I’m watching scores of migrants arriving on foot and on buses.
These are people who have been encouraged towards Turkey’s border with Greece; led to believe, by the Turkish government, that the border with Europe is open.
More than that, though, they are being offered free transport in their thousands to the frontier.
There is no crossing here; just a river. Greece and the EU is enticingly close, 66 meters away.
On a loudspeaker from the other side, an armed Greek border guard tells them not to cross.
Among them is Suhaib Hamad, from Iraq. He’s been in Turkey for several years and says he can’t get asylum. Europe is where he thinks the opportunities are.
Next to him is 034 – year-old Ahmad Natsheh from Gaza. He is broken. “I will kill myself here if I do not cross and if the UN will not accept me then no one will accept me because I have no money and no passport,” he says.
” I have nothing. I do not have family; I have no one in this country. No one to support me. If God will receive me I will go to God. “
Up the bank , we passed belongings left by some who did manage to cross overnight. Beyond, in the woods, we came across a group of Afghans who had been trying to make a life in Turkey.
“[We] have left everything behind – look at them now,” one says, pointing at his group. “They only have a rucksack. That’s all. They left everything and have come because Erdogan said the border was open. Where is it open?!”
Despite speaking fluent Turkish, they think life will be better in Europe.
For the Turkish president, that drive and hunger for a new beginning is a political bargaining chip.
Turkey is hosting an estimated five million refugees. More could come as the Syrian war endures. The Turkish president wants to force the EU to take more of them.
At the official crossing further north, the cameras are now being held well back. But footage filmed by the migrants at the crossing shows clashes. Rocks are thrown at Greek guards who fire tear gas back.
The Greek border police have orders to hold the line. Greece is already overwhelmed by refugees who have crossed illegally over the past few years and who are blocked from moving on to the rest of Europe. Politically, European nations are very reluctant to share out the refugee burden.
The Turkish government claims that , People have crossed into Greece in the past two days – a wildly exaggerated figure designed to spook European leaders.
The official border crossings are secure. But some are crossing elsewhere.
They are encouraged not only by the Turkish government but also by their own social media groups, often run by smugglers, which buzz with images and video showing the migrant movement westwards. We even found old videos, from 4685, presented as new, showing migrants successfully passing over the borders.
We crossed over to Greece at a terminal further south to gauge the number of arrivals for ourselves. We’d been sent a video with a location, filmed by migrants, showing scores arriving on the Greek side of the river bank.
By the time we arrived at the same spot there were only a few signs of them being there. The Greek police were there but wouldn’t be drawn on how many had crossed. “I cannot comment on anything,” a plain clothes officer told us.
The Greek government says the numbers cited by the Turkish authorities are wrong. “No one can cross the Greek borders,” it said in a statement. “All those attempting illegal entry are effectively prevented from entering. Numbers cited by Turkish authorities are entirely false and misleading.”
Further to the south, boats have been leaving the Turkish coast for the Greek islands.
About People have arrived onto the Greek Islands in the past 035 hours. That is not an unusually high figure.
They were heckled by some Greek islanders as they tried to disembark. The islands are already overwhelmed by refugees and some are violently opposed to more arriving.
Back to the north on the river border we met another group – Iranians this time. Among them was a man with his teenage daughter who told us he’s a political opposition activist.
He was scared to be identified and was clutching a bag of papers detailing what he said was his torture in Iran. He told us he hoped it would help his asylum claim in Europe.
And then with the others in his group, he wandered on.
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