“Does the government consider that the islet in question is Greek territory, in the area recorded in the Land Register, and intends to secure our sovereignty over it, or will it request an amendment to the Land Register?” says SYRIZA in a question submitted to the Parliament
The islet where the refugees were found in Evros is said to be registered in the National Land Registry, says the SYRIZA in a related question that he tabled today Wednesday in the Parliament.
The heads of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Citizen Protection and Immigration Policy of SYRIZA-PS G. Katrougalos, Th. Dritsas, H. Spirtzis and G. Psychogios, the former ministers of the SYRIZA governments D. Vitsas and G. Mouzalas and the member of parliament Evros N .Gara they filed a question today to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Citizen Protection, Immigration and Asylum, Environment and Energy, requesting clarifications on the sovereignty status of the island where the recent drama with the 39 refugees took place. Given that this islet is reportedly registered in the National Land Registry, as property of the Greek state, they ask the relevant ministers to answer the following critical questions:
1- Is the registration of the island in the Greek Land Register contrary to the data of the Geographical Service of the Army? As long as there is a document from the Geographical Service, in which it is confirmed that the relevant coordinates belong to Turkish territory, based on the Protocol of 1926, to be presented to the Parliament.
2- Finally, does the government consider the island in question to be Greek territory, in the area recorded in the Land Registry, and does it intend to ensure our sovereignty over it, or will it request an amendment to the Land Registry? In the first case, what are the consequences of the requests he submitted to the Turkish authorities, for Turkish services to operate on the island, in terms of sovereignty over it?
The full text of the question follows.
Question and Request to file a document
To the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, Citizen Protection, Immigration and Asylum, Environment and Energy
Subject: Ownership of an islet in Evros
The recent drama of the Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Evros highlighted in the worst way the government’s tactic of distorting reality and then, victim of its falsehood, falling into unresolved contradictions. As of mid-July there were injunction decisions of the European Court of Human Rights App. 35090/22 KA v. Greece and App. 384444/22 BS and others v. Greece which explicitly referred to these refugees and prohibited their re-admission to Turkey.
At first the Government claimed that, if they exist, they are on an islet in the Evros within Turkish territory. After they did not exist or were not visible in ELAS monitoring media, not only on this islet but also in the wider area. Then they were “discovered” again when they crossed the Evros. And all this combined with a social media campaign where reports of the existence of the refugees and the death of a child appeared as fake news even though both were later confirmed by the government itself. A campaign of venomous comments, both at the expense of the NGOs and journalists who raised the issue, and at the expense of SYRIZA-PS.
A central element of the government’s narrative in official announcements was that the islet on which the refugees were stranded is Turkish territory, as according to an announcement by the Hellenic Republic of Greece on 14.8.2022, “the coordinates were given to the competent services of the Armed Forces, who pointed out that this is a point outside the Greek territory”.
However, this islet is reportedly registered in the National Land Registry, with the Greek government as owner and KAEK data 11035EK00075 (attached hereto). The coordinates of the recording are identical to the mark of metadata from videos and photos shared by the refugees on social media and specifically, indicatively, 41 deg 16′ 23.99” N 26 deg 25′ 45.72” E and 41 deg 16′ 23.2 N 26 deg 25’45.4” (attached are the relevant twitter posts with their metadata from 11/8/2022 and 9/8/2022). Obviously, the registration in the Land Registry has full evidentiary value, at least as far as the Greek authorities are concerned, not only for the ownership of the island but also for the sovereignty over it.
It is recalled that a similar, but reversed, case had also arisen in relation to the area of ​​Melissokomoi in Evros, when the Turkish side had been served with the no. 23423 Verbal Communication (Ministry of Foreign Affairs document A.P. 23425 from 22.5.2020), which the Ministry, however, refused to disclose to the Parliament, despite the relevant 27-5-2020 document submission request of SYRIZA-PS. And then the government had chosen not to reveal the whole truth to the Greek people. He claimed that no soldiers of the Turkish Armed Forces had ever entered Greek territory, without explaining why, if so, the Turkish side had to be given a pass.
Following the above, the relevant ministers are asked:
1. Is the registration of the island in the Greek Land Register contrary to the data of the Geographical Service of the Army? As long as there is a document from the Geographical Service, in which it is confirmed that the relevant coordinates belong to Turkish territory, based on the Protocol of 1926, to be presented to the Parliament.
2. Finally, does the government consider the island in question to be Greek territory, in the area recorded in the Land Registry, and does it intend to secure our sovereignty over it, or will it request an amendment to the Land Registry? In the first case, what are the consequences of the requests he submitted to the Turkish authorities, for Turkish services to operate on the island, in terms of sovereignty over it?
Athens, 17/08/2022
The questioning members of parliament
Spirtzis for Evros on SKAI: The fingerprint from the refugees’ mobile phones showed that they were on Greek territory
The islet where the 38 refugees were found in Evros belongs to Greek territory based on the mark from their mobile phones, said the head of the Citizen Protection department of SYRIZA. Christos Spirtzis speaking to SKAI and the Newsroom show.
“Today we submitted a question to the Parliament. This islet, from the tweets made by the refugees, it seems that it was registered in the Greek land register” said Mr. Spirtzis.
He explained in the question submitted on this issue in the Parliament, there is also the relevant land registry number: “Their mark can be seen on an islet that belongs to a Greek land registry. In the question we submit to the Parliament there is the number of the land registry of this island where on August 9 and 11 the refugees were and they were going through their drama and they made constant appeals for Europe and Greece to help.
Then the head of the Citizen Protection department of SYRIZA attacked the government: “The answer we got was that he was outside Greek territory and that 2 requests were made to the Turkish agencies to act. Is it possible for the Greek government to call on Turkey to intervene in a Greek island? The government’s lies are beyond reason.”
The government denies it
In any case, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis and the Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos explicitly and unequivocally assure that the stigma of refugees he came from Turkish territory
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