HDP: Refugees Stranded at Border More Vulnerable to Coronavirus

Photo: Ayça Söylemez / bianet

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The government must urgently take precautions to protect refugees at Turkey-Greece border from coronavirus, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said in a statement.

Thousands of refugees flocked to the Pazarkule Border Crossing in the northwestern Edirne province after Turkey announced on February 28 that it would no longer try to stop migration to Europe.

There is a life and death situation at the border because of the government using refugees as a bargaining chip, said Gülsüm Ağaoğlu, the co-chair of the HDP's Committee for Refugees and Migrants.

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"Refugees stopped by the government of Greece with very heavy interventions have been waiting for the unknown for three weeks in extremely unhealthy conditions across the border," the statement said.

Recalling that the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic, Ağaoğlu stated that the refugees are under severe threat.

"This virus outbreak , which emerged as refugees tried to cope with problems such as hunger, thirst, nutrition and shelter, increased the severity of the events. If the government does not make the necessary interventions soon and the virus infectious virus cannot be taken under control, it will affect the refugees and the people they deal with and cause irreparable wounds.

"We call on the government to meet the most basic needs of refugees, to take precautions for refugees who are most likely to be infected with Covid-19 due to their circumstances, and to treat refugees who are diagnosed with the virus and refugees who contacted them." (AS/VK)