How Athens became a safe haven for 700 Afghans
In recent months, Greece has welcomed most Afghans from another country, turning Athens into a remote center of Kabul’s political scene as it was before the Taliban regime took office.
More than 700 women, all judges, MPs, journalists and lawyers, along with their families, have found safe haven in Greece, as noted by Policy, in a report by Nektaria Stamouli.
Their Delegations met with the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Recently, a group was guided to the Acropolis Museum by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni.
The women arrived in Greece with the cooperation of NGOs, international organizations and various individuals who asked for and immediately obtained the assistance of the Greek government. One of them, Ahmed Khan, an American philanthropist, addressed the Prime Minister’s wife, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotaki. “I sent a message to the wife of the Greek Prime Minister, Mareva, who has been a friend for a long time and I told her that I can help dozens of women but I have nowhere to go. An hour later, Greece said “yes, we will accept them”. “I did not even have to try to convince her,” he told Politico.
The government official told the German media that Greece accepted people who were proven to be in danger from the Taliban.
In September, Khan tried to find a place to receive six Afghans, lawyers, and their families, a total of 53 people. Because Iran was the first country to say “yes” to its request for temporary hosting, other Western countries and the United States refused to accept them.
He then contacted the Prime Minister’s wife. “Two hours later, I was talking to Notis Mitarakis, Minister of Immigration, who set up a WhatsApp team to organize the operation,” Khan said.
From there, the cooperation continued for dozens of other women, who ended up in Athens with their families, passing through various countries, such as Kazakhstan. Khan agreed with the Greek government to cover the living expenses of the Afghans. “It is a perfect partnership,” he said, adding that smaller countries have proved more willing to help Afghan women than large economic powers.
“I saw such willingness in Greece, Albania, Qatar, Northern Macedonia, none of them are in the G7. “Many countries have made a lot of money in Afghanistan and now they are feeling their hands and looking for the next opportunity.”
Although most Afghans in Greece want to leave for the United States, Notis Mitarakis noted that Greece is willing to provide asylum to all, if in the end, they do not manage to stay only in other countries, informs Politico.eu
At the same time, of course, writes the Politico journalist, other refugees, even Afghans, do not have the same reception from the Greek authorities, as for most the gates of Europe, in Greece, remain closed. In fact, he notes, Greece took measures from the first moment to prevent Afghans from coming to the country when Kabul fell, while the Ministry of Immigration is trying to discourage them from coming to the country without official permission, emphasizing the conditions prevailing in the refugee camps. . .
The article also refers to the allegations of illegal pushbacks of refugees and immigrants by the Greek authorities, which he notes that the government denies and adds that Greece is already hosting 160,000 refugees.
Follow it Protagon in Google News