The notorious Lavrion camp, located close to Greece's capital Athens, will be closed, and those residing there will be transferred to other refugee camps, according to Greek media reports.
According to the Kathimerini newspaper, the Lavrion camp, part of the Lavreotiki municipality, will be closed due to the dire conditions of buildings there.
One hundred people in the camp will be sent to the Attica region, while another 50 will be sent to the refugee camp at Malakasa. The report further said that the Lavreotiki municipality contacted the Migration Ministry to inform them that the buildings in Lavrion could not survive even a middle-range earthquake.
The Lavrion camp has been a point of dispute in relations between Türkiye and Greece for a long time.
Footage from the camp shows that it has become a base for PKK terrorists.
The camp scene resembles a terrorist base, with terrorist symbols and pictures of its imprisoned ringleader Abdullah Öcalan adorning its walls.
Turkish officials frequently said the camp harbors "everything ranging from the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front), the PKK and FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group)."
Greece has long been accused of being a favorite hideout for terrorists from the DHKP-C and PKK. Those fleeing Türkiye have taken shelter in refugee camps in Lavrion near Athens under the guise of being asylum-seekers, especially in the 1980s. Despite the closure of Lavrion in 2013 amid pressure from Türkiye, Greece continues to be the primary destination for DHKP-C terrorists.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry announced that two members of FETÖ were caught trying to enter Türkiye illegally on Saturday.
The reports of the camp’s closure came as Türkiye and Greece recently entered a period of positive relations.
After years of escalation in tensions between the two neighbors, the diplomatic climate changed swiftly and significantly after twin earthquakes shook southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6, affecting 13.5 million people and killing over 50,000.
Despite territorial and energy disputes exacerbating regional tensions, the two neighbors, situated on seismic fault lines, also have a tradition of helping each other during natural disasters. Greece was among the first countries to convey its condolences and offer aid after the disaster.
Ankara, in turn, sought to return this goodwill when a tragic train accident claimed dozens of lives near the northern Greek town of Tempi on Feb. 28, and Türkiye became the first country to offer condolences and aid.
Diplomatic contact, too, has flourished, with the tragedy prompting the first contact between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in months and a series of meetings between senior officials.
Greece and Türkiye also restarted their "positive agenda" initiative, which Çavuşoğlu and Dendias initially agreed upon in April 2021.
In the fourth round of the talks under a positive agenda framework, Turkish and Greek delegations led on both sides by deputy foreign ministers came together in the Turkish capital Ankara on March 22.
According to a news article published by Greek news outlet Ta Nea on Saturday, Greece’s defense chief Nikos Panagiotopoulos spoke on his recent visit to Türkiye, describing it as "excellent hospitality, family atmosphere, positive sincerity."
Pointing out that Tuesday’s visit was the first visit of a Greek defense minister to Türkiye in 20 years, Panagiotopoulos said that issues such as the need to de-escalate the tension at the negotiating table and the limitation of the exercises outside of pre-determined multinational activities were discussed with his counterpart.
Panagiotopoulos pointed out that cooperation between the two countries could be increased in the fight against problems such as climate change, fires and earthquakes while underlining that both Ankara and Athens aim for dialogue.