Kathy Tzilivakis

GREECE is planning to create a network of detention facilities in remote areas across the country to be used to propel undocumented migrants towards deportation.

 

 

One detention centre will be set up at an abandoned airforce base in Ritsona, central Greece, on the road connecting Halkida with the national road. A second centre will be set up at a building complex owned by the agriculture ministry in the west of Athens, in the industrial municipality of Aspropyrgos.

 

There is talk of centres mushrooming in northern Greece and in other parts around the country, including on islands close to Turkey.

 

In a sinking economy, immigration detention could be a rare growth industry for the construction sector. The government has called for bid proposals for the construction of prefabricated buildings to serve as detention facilities.

 

But convincing locals to accept these detention centres in their own backyard will not be easy.

Rumours of a detention facility in Kozani have already angered the locals. Even Yiorgos Siaperopoulos, the Laos-affiliated president of the Kozani prefectural committee, has spoken out against it.

 

“We cannot allow our city to be turned into a ghetto,” Siaperopoulos said in a statement. “Kozani cannot be allowed to become a carpet under which the government will hide illegal immigrants.”

Contacted by the Athens News, ruling ND MP Yiorgos Kasapidis of Kozani refused to comment on the matter.

 

Objections have also been raised by Manolis Karlas, the prefect of Samos, an island just off the coast of Turkey. Karlas said he will not allow a single detention centre to be created on his island.

“I have heard the government is planning at least four centres on Samos,” Karlas told the Athens News. “We will not stand for this. This will not solve the problem. What we need is an EU solution. We need EU assistance. Measures aimed at patrolling the sea border and detaining migrants are useless. They only aggravate the problem. We need the EU to work with Turkey to prevent illegal immigration.”

 

Samos is already home to a temporary reception centre touted by the government as a major achievement and a model for future facilities. It cost 2.5 million euros. Inaugurated by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis last year, the centre employs 15 islanders and a local catering company.