Tuesday, February 28: Hellenic Naval War College

Post date: Mar 04, 2017 11:11:58 AM

By Maha Arshad

The 10 Fordies studying domestic and international refugee issues received a true Greek welcome from the Hellenic Naval War College on Tuesday morning. We were escorted from the metro stop to the College by the Director of Studies, Commander Kleanthis Kyriakidis, whose unyielding crisp uniform was not indicative of his warm and candid demeanor. Commander Kyriakidis, or “K.K.,” as he would rather be referred to, had arranged for us to mingle with officers and commanders over a quick morning coffee and spread of snacks.

It was apparent that even with the underlying respect for hierarchy, the students and teachers in the College were open to hearing various perspectives. They also asked tough questions of each other, despite the presence of an outside audience. The meeting began with introductory remarks by the Commander of the Naval Training Command, Vice Admiral Alexandros Diakopoulos. K.K. then launched into an informative presentation which underscored that the flow of migration and presence of refugees in Greece was but a small percentage of the world total. The Central Mediterranean route that allowed entry of refugees to Italy was still receiving more individuals than Greece. While other European countries have retracted their open border policies, Greece has consistently practiced an “open arms” policy despite their economic crisis. K.K. described the technical difficulties with the status of refugees and the resulting bottlenecks in processing their asylum requests; for instance, if an asylum seeker had been on Turkish soil for a period of time before moving on to Greece, would their “well-founded fear of persecution” from the country they fled still remain valid?

The officers we sat with expressed a desire for greater solidarity across the countries of the EU with regard to the migration and asylum issue. There was general disappointment about the negative reaction in some EU countries towards multiculturalism and diversity of religion. Being a political scientist, and writing his dissertation on political Islam, K.K. noted that more than 6,000 ISIS terrorists already hold European passports, which weakens the security argument in relation to migration into Europe through Italy or Greece. Despite being a country supportive of humanitarian efforts and led by a radical left government, Greece does not have the resources to sustain the current temporary solutions, especially running detention centers. Of the 60-65 thousand refugees awaiting response, only 12,000 have been relocated in parts of Europe. Greece is meant to be a “transition country,” but is becoming more at risk of turning into a massive detention territory for Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis and others fleeing their countries. Additionally, without concrete integration policies, parts of Europe risk developing into “parallel societies” divided between natives and new arrivals.

The Hellenic Navy took a hard stance against smugglers using the plight of desperate people for selfish gains. The patrolling of the coastline, although the primary responsibility of the coastguard, has been shared by naval ships in the Mediterranean. More than 2,500 search and rescue operations have been conducted by the Hellenic Navy to date. The EU-Turkey deal is meant to curb the efficacy of traffickers; however, if the countries in the EU do not commit to solidarity, the likelihood of substantive progress on this issue is low. When asked what the ideal situation would be, K.K. suggested using legitimate Greek ships instead of allowing traffickers to transport people across the sea.

Our wonderful time at the Hellenic Naval War College ended with the presentation of a plaque of Athens by our gracious hosts. The meeting was a great welcome to Greece and introduction into the complex issues of migration and asylum policy both within Greece and across the EU.