Idomeni

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Local community Idomeni
Τοπική Κοινότητα Ειδομένης
(Ειδομένη)
Idomeni (Greece)
Bluedot.svg
Basic data
Country GreeceGreece Greece
region Central Macedonia
Regional district Kilkis
local community Peonia
Parish Axioupoli
Geographic coordinates 41 ° 7 ′  N , 22 ° 31 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 7 ′  N , 22 ° 31 ′  E
Height above d. M. 110  m
average
surface 26.944 km²
Residents 309 (2011)
LAU-1 code no. 09020203
Local division 3

Idomeni ( Greek Ειδομένη ( f. Sg. ); Bulgarian and Macedonian Сехово, Sechovo or Sehovo ) is a village in the municipality of Peonia in the northern Greek region of Central Macedonia . Together with two smaller villages, it forms the local community of the same name.

The village has a border station to North Macedonia on an important European railway line. Gevgelija is on the opposite side . The village is located west of the Axios (Vardar) river. Evzoni and the border crossing on the A1 motorway are four kilometers southeast of the village .

Many of the villagers are Macedonians ; some come from Eastern Thrace and were forced to relocate by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) .

Administrative division

As a rural community of Sechovo (Κοινότητα Σεχόβου) founded in 1919, it consisted of the three villages of Sechovo, Altsak and Slopnitsa. The renaming from Sechovo to Idomeni and from Altsak to Chamilo took place in 1926. Slopnitsa received the Greek form of the name Doganis in 1928. With the municipal reform in 1997 , Idomeni was incorporated into the municipality of Axioupoli and this in turn became part of the municipality of Peonia through the administrative reform in 2010 . Since then, Idomeni has had the status of a local community.

Population development of Idomeni
Surname Greek name 1928 1940 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Idomeni Ειδομένη ( f. Sg. ) 532 542 422 511 393 421 334 235 154
Doganis Δογάνης ( m. Sg. ) 180 191 124 109 77 58 59 49 38
Chamilo Χαμηλό ( n. Sg. ) 219 283 220 258 154 163 140 154 117
total 931 1016 766 878 624 642 533 438 309

traffic

The railway line is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor X ; it runs between the Greek port city of Thessaloniki and the Macedonian capital Skopje (see Makedonski železnici # rail network ). It was built between 1871 and 1873 (details here ).

From Skopje, the main route of Corridor X continues to Belgrade (a major railway junction ) - Zagreb - Ljubljana - Salzburg .

Refugee crisis

As of 2014, refugees from Syria and many other countries came to Idomeni to cross the border into Macedonia (one of the Balkan routes ). The Republic of Macedonia and Serbia further north were neither EU members nor part of the Schengen area . The refugees then tried to enter the Schengen area or the EU at the Serbian-Croatian or the Serbian-Hungarian border (e.g. in Horgos ).

On February 22, 2016, only refugees from Syria and Iraq were allowed to enter. As a result, hundreds of refugees (mostly from Afghanistan) blocked rail traffic and tried to storm the Idomeni-Gevgelija rail border crossing. The next day the police cleared the area.

On February 26, 2016, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia announced a daily maximum entry limit of 580 people (Austria had already stated a week earlier that 80 people would enter Austria per day and 3200 would pass through to Germany). This caused a "backlog" in Greece.

Idomeni refugee camp

In August 2015, 5000 or 6000 people camped at Idomeni at times. The reception camp right at the border crossing is designed for 1,500 people. On March 2, 2016 there were over 10,000 refugees in Idomeni, on March 9, 2016 there were around 14,000. The media describe the situation in the camp (prolonged rainfall, hygienic conditions and others) as “unsustainable” or “catastrophic”. Despite overcrowding and difficult living conditions, many refugees refuse to leave the camp and move to the accommodation offered in the Greek interior because they speculate that the border through Macedonia will soon open. The former German Federal Labor Minister Norbert Blüm stayed at the camp on the night of March 12th to 13th, 2016 to show his solidarity with the refugees in the refugee camp.

The Greek authorities issued leaflets calling on migrants to move to other refugee camps, where accommodation, food and medical care are guaranteed. Other leaflets, which were signed "Kommando Norbert Blüm" (Norbert Blüm explicitly distanced himself from it and declared that no one had asked him), called on the migrants not to go to official Greek accommodation, but to cross the border to Macedonia illegally to cross. Trying to do this, three people drowned in a river. The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras strongly condemned Idomeni's leaflet campaign.

Four weeks later, leaflets appeared again in Arabic, calling on the residents of the improvised camp in Idomeni to storm the border with Macedonia on April 10. Migrants pelted Macedonian officials with stones and metal objects; these reacted with tear gas and stun grenades. According to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, 300 people were injured. The Greek police allowed the seven-hour riots along the border system on their national territory without intervening. On April 14, 2016, the Greek Army and Air Force carried out maneuvers near the camp. The General Staff of the Greek military wrote in a press release that it was a "demonstration of operational readiness". Macedonia had previously increased its military presence in the border region.

An attempt by the Greek authorities to evacuate the camp on April 18 failed because the residents were not cooperative and the police were not authorized to use force. On May 4th, the police and local authorities decided to vacate the camp by May 30th. The next day they began clearing railway tracks that had been occupied for weeks. The evacuation of the camp itself did not begin until three weeks later on May 24, 2016. Of the more than 8,000 people in the camp, only around 3,500 were taken to military camps. The others are hiding in the woods or have moved their tents.

Others

Other border crossings on the Greek-North Macedonian border are Doirani , Medžitlija-Níki ( European route 65 ) and Selemli .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
  2. ↑ luftlinie.org
  3. ↑ Κεντρική Ένωση Δήμων και Κοινοτήτων Ελλάδας (ΚΕΔΚΕ) Ελληνική Εταιρία Τοπικής Ανάπτυξης και Αυτοδιοίκησης (ΕΕΤΑΑ) (ed.): Λεξικό Διοικητικών Μεταβολών των Δήμων και Κοινοτήτων (1912-2001). 2 (Τόμος Β, λ – ω), Athens 2002, ISBN 960-7509-47-1 , p. 414.
  4. ↑ Κεντρική Ένωση Δήμων και Κοινοτήτων Ελλάδας (ΚΕΔΚΕ) Ελληνική Εταιρία Τοπικής Ανάπτυξης και Αυτοδιοίκησης (ΕΕΤΑΑ) (ed.): Λεξικό Διοικητικών Μεταβολών των Δήμων και Κοινοτήτων (1912-2001). 1 (Τόμος Α, α – κ), Athens 2002, ISBN 960-7509-47-1 , p. 317f.
  5. ↑ Population of Idomeni 1928–2001, Greek Statistical Office ELSTAT, Digital Library (Greek); Census 2011
  6. ↑ tagesschau.de
  7. ↑ Thousands of refugees stranded on the Macedonian border.
  8. ↑ FAZ.net February 23, 2016: Police clear the railway line on the northern Greek border.
  9. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Balkan states shut down - more than 20,000 refugees are stuck.
  10. ↑ zdf.de: Report from the border crossing ( memento of the original from December 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (February 28, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zdf.de
  11. ↑ Βοήθεια στο δράμα των προσφύγων ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Greek ), Deutsche Welle, August 23, 2015, accessed on March 14, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dw.com
  12. ↑ FAZ.net February 27, 2016: More and more women and young people on the Balkan route.
  13. ↑ tagesschau.de March 2, 2016
  14. ↑ tagesschau.de
  15. ↑ spiegel.de: Idomeni refugee camp is sinking in the mud. (March 10, 2016)
  16. ↑ zeit.de (March 10, 2016)
  17. ↑ Idomeni: Governor calls for an emergency. NTV of March 5, 2016
  18. ↑ Handelsblatt Online: Greek governor wants to declare a state of emergency. Wirtschaftswoche from March 5, 2016
  19. ↑ heute.de March 13, 2016 ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Video)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heute.de
  20. ↑ spiegel.de March 13, 2016: Norbert Blüm now has a tent in Idomeni.
  21. ↑ Flyer in refugee camp - Who directed the escape from Idomeni? Tagesschau.de, March 15, 2016
  22. ↑ FAZ.net April 10, 2016: More than 250 injured after the attack on the Macedonian border.
  23. ↑ KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES / AP: Macedonia calls on Greece to prevent migrant riots. Los Angeles Times April 11, 2016
  24. ↑ Military exercise at Idomeni: Greek army starts maneuvers on the Macedonian border spiegel.de April 14, 2016
  25. ↑ APA: "Greece tries to clear improvised camps" Standard.at of April 18, 2016
  26. ↑ spiegel.de: Refugees have to give way - police threaten hardship May 5, 2016
  27. ^ Greece: Police clear the refugee camp in Idomeni. In: Spiegel Online . May 24, 2016, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  28. ↑ zeit.de / Lenz Jacobsen May 26, 2016: Every second person went underground