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MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2016 INTERNATIONAL Tired of waiting in Greece, Syrians bid to return home DIDYMOTEICHO: “I want to go back to trapped by the closure of the borders the Aegean island of Lesbos, the main Syria. There is war in my country, but and finally we’ve decided to go home, entry point to Greece for migrants from we’ve been living for seven months in he says. More than 60,000 refugees are the Turkish coast. Greece like prisoners.” Adan, from currently trapped in Greece, in particular “With their documents they can trav- Aleppo, has abandoned his dream of after the March 18 EU-Turkey accord el freely within the country. But we know building a new life in Europe, like thou- aimed at sending migrants arriving from they came here to find people smug- sands of other Syrians trapped in Greece. Turkey systematically back there. glers who will help them cross the Evros He’s just arrived at the station in Refugees and migrants find them- river on the border at night, to get into Didymoteicho, a village near the Greece- selves with no way ahead, their hopes to Turkey,” one border guard told AFP, Turkey border, with his wife, three chil- travel onward to a European country requesting anonymity. “This kind of case dren and five other relatives, and is proving to be virtually impossible. happens every day .. it’s crazy: these are preparing to go through a police check- Programs for relocating or reuniting miserable people, they’ve already paid point before trying to get into Turkey, families, the only legal way of moving to to come illegally to Greece, and here the start of a long journey home. live and work in Europe, have proved they have to pay again to return home,” “We’ve been on the streets for slow and complicated due to the reluc- he said.”The people smugglers are the months, with nowhere to live. When we tance of many countries who don’t want only ones who profit.” arrived in Greece we went to the to take in any more refugees. The EU The river level on the Greece-Turkey Idomeni camp where we stayed for committed itself in September 2015 to border is currently quite low.”Some peo- three months,” hoping to cross the relocate 66.400 refugees from Greece ple use boats but at some points you can Greece-Macedonia border to head for over two years. So far only 4,926 have cross by foot,” says Chrysovalantis Germany, says Adan. He describes their left in 13 months. A last hope for Gialamas, border guard chief for the miserable time in the makeshift camp migrants is to apply for asylum in Evros region. Dozens of refugees arrive DIDYMOTEICHO: Adan’s family members from the Syrian city of Aleppo cross where over 10,000 migrants were Greece-but that is also a lengthy proce- every day at the Didymoteicho station in the railway as they arrives at the train station of Didymoteicho some 400 km thrown together in wretched conditions, dure, and daunting in a country still recent weeks. Some even have German North-East from Thessaloniki, near the Greek-Turkish border. — AFP before the Greek government eventually mired in crisis, with the highest unem- refugee papers, and so appear to be opposite direction-from Turkey into alleged Greek people smuggler was decided to dismantle it in May and trans- ployment rate in the eurozone. returning from Germany, disappointed Greece-has also increased in recent arrested near Thessaloniki transporting fer them to nearby reception centres. that they have not integrated there. months, and police have been forced to 40 Syrians including 15 children in a Adan and his family then tried their Crossing the river “We can’t really verify if they are gen- bolster the land border between the two truck. They had paid 1,500 euros each to luck in Thessaloniki, the nearest major Adan shows the Didymoteicho uine or fake,” said one officer, cautiously. countries. Since July, 70 people smug- get to the Greek city, where they hoped Greece city to Idomeni, before returning police his identity papers handed out by But apart from those who want to leave glers and over 1,000 migrants have been to find a way to travel onward to north- to Athens. “We realized that we are authorities when they first registered on Greece, the flow of migrants in the arrested, police say. On Thursday an ern Europe, according to police. — AFP Georgia ruling party set to win in parliamentary polls TBILISI: Georgia voted in the second round years ago. Almost all opposition parties of contested parliamentary polls yesterday, cried foul, accusing the government of mas- with the ruling Georgian Dream poised for a sive vote rigging during the first round-a landslide victory after opposition parties claim flatly rejected by the authorities. alleged fraud in the first round. The elections Western monitors said that the October 8 see the Georgian Dream, led from behind vote was competitive, though they noted the scenes by billionaire ex-Prime Minister isolated instances of violations and proce- Bidzina Ivanishvili, grappling with the dural problems. Voting, which will end at United National Movement (UNM), founded 1600 GMT, is being monitored by interna- by exiled former president Mikheil tional observers from the Organisation for Saakashvili. Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Yesterday’s vote will decide-on a first- European Parliament, and NATO. past-the-post basis-the fate of a third of par- Politics is still dominated by Saakashvili liamentary mandates in the 150-seat legisla- and Ivanishvili even though neither holds an ture. Georgian Dream is expected to win in official position. Tensions rose ahead of the the majority of single-mandate constituen- vote in the ex-Soviet republic-which fought cies and secure over 113 seats in the parlia- a brief war with Russia in 2008 and seeks EU ment-the number that would allow the party and NATO membership-after violent inci- to form a new cabinet and pass constitution- dents targeting candidates. On October 5, a al amendments. Turnout was 19.3 percent at UNM lawmaker’s car exploded in central 0800 GMT, four hours after polls opened, the Tbilisi, injuring four passers-by and urging Central Election Commission said. In the polls’ the party to accuse the authorities of “creat- first round held on October 8, Georgian ing a climate of hatred in which opposition Dream won with 48.68 percent of the vote in politicians are being attacked”. a proportional ballot, while Georgia’s main A few days earlier two men were injured opposition force, UNM, came second with when unknown assailants fired shots during REYKJAVIK: Politician and co founder of Iceland’s Pirate Party Birgitta Jonsdottir (C), Asta Gudrun Helgadottir (2nd,L) and fellow activists react 27.11 percent of the vote. For the first time in a campaign rally held by an independent as the election results are announced at their election gathering. — AFP Georgia’s post-Soviet history, the first round candidate in the central city of Gori. The poi- also saw a small anti-Western party, the sonous atmosphere around the polarized Alliance of Patriots, clearing the five-percent vote follows years of what the opposition Iceland set for coalition threshold needed to enter parliament. sees as political witch-hunts and retribution against Saakashvili and his team. Electoral violations Saakashvili, a charismatic reformer who took Georgia’s Western allies are watching over in the Rose Revolution of 2003, was haggling after close vote closely to see if the strategic nation-praised forced out of the country after prosecutors as a rare example of democracy in the for- issued an arrest warrant for abuse of power mer Soviet region-can cement gains after its and now works as a regional governor in Prime Minister accepts results, set to resign first transfer of power at the ballot box four pro-Western Ukraine. — AFP REYKJAVIK: Iceland was headed for tense talks the fate of coalition talks. But negotiations care, greater protection of natural resources and over its next government after an alliance led by between Regeneration and Benediktsson’s the closure of tax loopholes for large corpora- Germany probe if fatal the anti-establishment Pirate Party gained Independence Party could be tough. The parties tions. The leaders of the party, set up just four ground against the ruling centre-right in a vote fell out over holding a referendum on resuming years ago by anarchists, activists and hackers, triggered by the Panama Papers scandal. Final the nation’s EU membership talks, stalled by the said they was pleased with its advances, even if stabbing was IS-related figures from Saturday’s snap election pointed to incumbent conservative government. an absolute majority failed to emerge. BERLIN: Germany’s federal prosecutor is not taken terrorism into consideration. The a deadlocked outcome, opening the way for “We have not been negative towards other “We are very satisfied,” said cofounder Birgitta checking whether he should take over the attack at Aussenalster lake, which is a pop- tough horse-trading over the next government parties or how governments should be formed,” Jonsdottir, an activist, poet and WikiLeaks sup- investigation into a fatal stabbing in ular leisure time destination, had shocked in the North Atlantic island nation. the leader of the Regeneration Party, Benedikt porter. “We are a platform for young people, for Hamburg earlier this month, his office said the citizens of Hamburg for its cold-blood- Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Johannesson told AFP. But, he predicted, his progressive people who shape and reshape our yesterday.

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