The Minister for Migration and Asylum of Greece, Notis Mitarachi, left Greeks speechless with a bizarre new visa scheme aimed at attracting so-called “skilled labour” from Pakistan.
As announced by the office of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, “Greece’s initiative of establishing legal migration channels which will open avenues for Pakistani skilled labour.”
Effectively, to deal with the migrant crisis, Mitarachi has opened a visa scheme for cheap labour (not skilled labour) to work in the country, but without securing a mechanism to return illegal migrants back to Pakistan from Greece.
Following the so-called “Syrian” refugee crisis that began in 2015, tens of thousands of Pakistanis illegally entered Greece, which saw cases of rape and theft skyrocket across the country.
The influx of tens of thousands into Greece did not just see an immense societal change, but just as importantly opened new security risks as a pro-Turkish population significantly strengthened in numbers.
READ MORE: Imran Khan ignores wave of violence targeting Christian.
In effect, the government is now rewarding Pakistan for its hostile actions against Greece and Cyprus.
It is recalled that during the 1990’s, the then president of Turkey, Turgut Özal, provocatively boasted: “We do not need to make war with Greece. We just need to send them a few million immigrants and finish with them.”
This is not to view refugees or asylum seekers trying to enter Greece from Turkey with automatic suspicion, but it does highlight that Ankara openly declares its weaponisation of migrants against Greece.
In January 2021, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan issued a joint declaration to support each country’s respective ambitions in Nagorno-Karabakh, Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The three countries have deeply integrated their intelligence and military structures, and jointly pursue common foreign policy goals that directly challenge the sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus.
READ MORE: Islamabad plays spoil-sport in Armenia’s relations with its neighbours.
This ultimately culminated in September 2021 with the “Three Brothers – 2021” joint military exercises.
Speaking at the exercises, the heads of Turkish and Pakistani delegations, Lt. Col. Kursat Konuk and Lt. Col. Aamir Shahzad, said the existing bond of friendship between their nations and armies “would stand the test of time” in a rapidly changing global environment.
They added that the “three brothers will grow closer” as reliable regional partners and collaborators despite international political changes.
However, even before the “Three Brothers” exercise, the Chief of the Pakistani General Staff, General Nadeem Raza, said in the spring of 2021 that: “When I come to Turkey, the Cyprus issue is on the agenda, while when you come, Kashmir is on the agenda.”
“Long live the Pakistan-Turkey friendship,” he added.
Islamabad was the first after Ankara to recognise the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” an illegal entity attempting to legitimise Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus.
Islamabad only withdrew its recognition after significant pressure from the international community, but this does not mean that it does not continue to cooperate with the illegal entity through other means.
READ MORE: PAKISTAN: Christian man given death sentence from initial life imprisonment for “blasphemy.”
Yet, despite these hostile actions, illegal immigration was used by Islamabad to prevail upon Greece, and in this way the ultimate winner is Turkey as it has now flooded Greece with hundreds of thousands of people educated in radical madrassas (Islamic schools).
Once again to stress the point, the Mitsotakis government is rewarding Pakistan for hostile actions against Greece and Cyprus.
The Mitsotakis government prided itself in stemming illegal migration to Greece, but under the new legalised scheme, the goal will be to provide visas for five years; in each year the emigrant can stay in Greece for nine months and spend the rest back home.
But what guarantee is there that the migrant will go home after nine months?
In fact, this policy will affect other European countries as these Pakistani’s could have the intention to further migrate to the richer countries of northern and western Europe.
READ MORE: Exposé highlights Turkish ties to Muslim Brotherhood in new light.
More disturbingly, Mitarachi assured that legal migration will increase revenues for Pakistan and Pakistan International Airline (PIA) can begin direct flights to Greece.
PIA is the airline that sacked 150 pilots for cheating on their exams, suspended a pilot for being four-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit to fly, and potentially transferred jihadists across the world.
Is this really an airline we want Greek citizens to be flying on?
The whole deal once again exposes naivety of the Mitsotakis government in key security issues – economics does not trump all, especially for a country like Greece with its geopolitical positioning and revisionist Turkish neighbour.
How could this government forget so quickly that only days after the Greek Ambassador to Baku went on a tour of shame to occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, as part of the government’s cozying up to Azerbaijan for energy purposes, the Turkic-speaking country unapologetically sent a delegation to northern Cyprus on a Turkish propaganda tour?
Just as the Mitsotakis government foolishly believed that economic relations with Azerbaijan would pacify its hostile policies against Greece, now it thinks the same will happen with Pakistan, regardless of the country’s openly hostile policies on Cyprus and its security alliance with Turkey.
READ MORE: Greek Ambassador visits Nagorno-Karabakh on Azerbaijani propaganda tour.
