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Migrant issue looms large on ‘weary’ Samos for Greek elections
SAMOS, Greece, June 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – When night falls on the Aegean
island of Samos, scores of migrants leave the filthy camp above the island
capital of Vathi for some fresh harbour air.
Many locals are not happy to see them. And after years of cohabitation, the
migrant issue looms large over national elections on July 7.
“Samos used to be very calm and very clean, and now there’s garbage and
the stench of urine everywhere,” says Anna Loukazaki, a painter who runs her
own boutique at Vathi.
The island is “very weary” of the migrants, she adds.
Less than two kilometres from the coast of Turkey, Samos is among a
handful of Greek islands thrust to the forefront of the migration crisis in
2015, when more than 800,000 migrants and refugees from mainly war-torn Syria
made the perilous Aegean crossing from Turkey.
Crammed inside barely-floating dinghies and boats, hundreds died in the
attempt.
An EU deal with Ankara in 2016 drastically reduced the flow to the islands
of Samos, Lesbos, Chios, Kos and Leros.
But a few dozen still arrive daily by boat — risking their lives in the
process — and it is enough to overwhelm capacity: the Samos camp, built for
650, houses over 3,000 people.
“Generally, people here are not hostile to the migrants, they are hostile
to the government who they feel is responsible for the situation,” says
Ioannis Kaltakis, a local lawyer.
But Kaltakis insists that the government “will pay for its failure to guard
the borders” in national elections coming on July 7 where the migrant issue
will be the “main criterion” for Samos voters.
Georgios Stantzos was in June elected mayor for a constituency that
accounts for about half of Samos. He says islanders are “very disappointed”
with the government in Athens and also the European Union.
“It’s as if the EU decided to make Samos a warehouse of human souls,” he
told AFP.
“But mainly, there is great disappointment with the Greek government that
has failed to manage the situation,” he adds.
In European parliament elections in May, the Samos vote was consistent with
the rest of Greece.
The conservative New Democracy party topped the ballot, ahead of the
leftist Syriza party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Nationalist parties, including neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, picked up about 3,000
votes.
The Greek migration ministry has struggled for months to alleviate
pressure on Samos, pledging in 2018 to shut down the camp altogether this
year.
The relocation of more than 5,000 refugees to the mainland in 2018 also
made little difference as more arrived to take their place, the ministry
says.
– ‘People here have had enough’ –
Yiorgis Margetis, a pensioner who worked in Belgium, says migrants are
making a negative impact on local life.
“In the evenings, 200 migrant kids swarm the playground, you’d never dare
to leave your own children there,” he says, adding that he no longer feels
safe to walk the harbour at night as he once did.
“People here have had enough,” says Margetis. “The city is dead, shops are
closing, and the situation with the migrants is going from bad to worse.”
But there is some understanding of the plight of the migrants, who are
stuck in deplorable conditions while waiting for their asylum applications to
be processed.
“They are trapped here, and they are treated like animals,” says Ilias
Palaigeorgiou, who runs a harbour tourist shop with his brother.
He notes that certain restaurants refuse to serve them, and that some
island beaches are closed to them.
For his elder brother Yiorgos, the city is too close to the camp and acts
as a magnet.
“Maybe if the camp is moved outside town, they will stop coming,” he says.
The UN refugee agency has described camp conditions as “dire” with limited
access to health services, exposing women, children, and men to serious risk.
Another local pensioner, 80-year-old Yiorgos Sfiropoulos, says authorities
will eventually bow to the “harsh reality” of building a new camp.
“There are thousands of them at Vathi. What are they going to do, throw
them into the sea?” he wonders.
BSS/AFP/RY/09:10hrs