ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Greece will build a fence on its land border with Turkey to stem the flow of illegal migrants, a Cabinet minister says.
Citizens' Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis told the Athens News Agency the government will take a harder line and criticized other European Union countries for inaction despite the dispatch of dozens of guards from the EU border agency Frontex along the Greek-Turkish border in November.
"Cooperation with other EU states is not going well. Now we plan to construct a fence to deal with illegal migration," he said. "Greek society has reached its limits in taking in illegal immigrants. Greece can't take it anymore."
Gokhan Sozer, governor of Turkey's border province of Edirne, said Monday the Greek plan would help.
"Turkish security forces are working hard to prevent illegal migrants from entering Greece, and they detain many of them. But I believe that Greece is having a hard time keeping them out," he told the Anatolia News Agency.
From June through November, 33,000 illegal immigrants were found crossing the border. Most were from Afghanistan, Algeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Iraq.
