Migrants are continually trying to break through the Turkish-Greek border, and therefore a state of positional warfare has developed there, the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said on the public service television news channel M1 on Wednesday morning.

György Bakondi said more than 42,000 illegal immigrants have appeared on the Greek islands whom the local government wants to repatriate, but for the time being many of them are being transported to sealed camps on the mainland.

The countries lying on the Balkans route have implemented stringent measures. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia, too, are continuing their efforts. In these countries, there could be around 120,000 to 130,000 migrants whom they are seeking to transfer to sealed camps, while they are also looking for ways to screen them for coronavirus infection, he added.

He also said Serbia has embarked on major security measures with the deployment of the army. They are continuously transporting migrants away from the Hungarian-Serbian border. As a result, the intensity of the activities of illegal border-crossers and people smugglers has decreased significantly.

“In other words, we can see that, due to the restrictions imposed on account of the coronavirus, it is possible for all states to successfully close down their borders; this is effectively a question of political will,” Mr Bakondi said.

He added that Hungary continues to maintain stringent border controls both on the Serbian and Hungarian border sections. The Hungarian Defence Forces, too, are taking part in these efforts in large numbers.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)