The President of the Republic of Macedonia and Supreme Commander of the Armed forces, HE PhD Gjorge Ivanov, accompanied by the Chief of ARM General Staff, Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski, today visited the members of the Army of Republic of Macedonia assigned to secure the South border in the region of the border crossing “Medzitlija”.
At the border house “Medzitlija” on the Macedonian-Greek border, President Ivanov got familiarized with the current security state at this part of the state border, as well as with the readiness of the ARM in carrying out the given tasks to prevent illegal crossings at the South border, the force and equipment engaged for the fulfilment of that task and the course of action for the following period.
In his statement for the media President Ivanov complimented the ARM members on their engagement at the border. Among other things he stated that: “As it is known, from June, 2015 until July, 2017 we have declared a state of crisis because of the threats arising from illegal migration from the southern neighbouring state. Our ARM members are in control of the terrain and have taken into consideration all the possible challenges which we as a state might encounter as a result of this illegal migration. Army members have informed me on all their previous operations and about all the measures that have been taken to prevent illegal migration. Although we concentrated our forces at the border crossings near Gevgelija and Dojran, in the past few months there were around 240 attempts for illegal crossings at these points of our state border.
Daily, we follow the events related to the EU – Turkey agreement, we keep track of the conditions in our neighbouring countries, and our intelligence services inform us about the situation on the battlefields where the largest number of illegal migrants are coming from. We can freely say that we have done everything which is in our power to prevent, and as a country we have proven that we are able to secure one of the most frequent corridors for illegal migration by migrants wishing to reach the European countries, and we are grateful to the International Police Forces present at the border crossing “Medzitlija”. We are expecting, we have some announcements and facts about it, a second migration wave, which is the reason for this visit, to prevent and to check our capacities in order for all the crisis management subjects to take the necessary measures anticipated in a state of crisis”.