Alkiviadis Stefanis

Migrants amassed at the Greek-Turkish border made about 9,600 attempts to enter Greece overnight, Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis said Sunday.

All attempts were successfully thwarted, Stefanis said before leaving for the border area.

At the border crossing of Kastanies, there are at least 3,000 migrants waiting to cross into Greece, authorities estimate.

Greek government officials will meet at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Prime Minister's office to discuss the latest developments after Turkey's decision to push migrants and refugees to the border with Greece, essentially inviting them to cross over.

Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis said on Thursday that Greece is maintaining dialogue with Turkey but that the country's armed forces are on standby.

"Diplomacy is the first choice," he told Skai radio. "We have open channels of communication but the armed forces are ready to do what is necessary in coordination with the Foreign Ministry," he added.

Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis said migration is a "matter of national security" and is being handled as such, while expressing support for a plan to install a floating barrier in the Aegean Sea to prevent migrant boats from entering Greece's waters.

Greece's Hellenic Navy launched a search and rescue operation on Wednesday to locate the missing, sole inhabitant of the small island of Kinaros, the second westernmost island of the Dodecanese.

The elderly woman has not been seen or heard of in three days, Greek television channel Skai reported.

Intent on maintaining a charged atmosphere in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean during the holidays, Ankara conducted a barrage of Greek airspace violations over the last three days.

Christmas Eve afternoon was a busy one for the Greek Air Force, having to counter three Turkish intrusions into Greek airspace.

Greece can become a hub for the maintenance and upgrading of US military helicopters, Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis says in an interview with Kathimerini in which he sees opportunities for broader industrial growth in the defense sector. Stefanis also argues that Greece is Turkey's "fifth or sixth problem," as Ankara is currently preoccupied with Syria.

Seeking to stem rising migrant flows into Greece, a government plan is currently under way to seal land borders and improve sea surveillance "from one end of the Aegean to the other."

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mistotakis called for the strengthening of Greece's defense industry in order to boost the "operational readiness" of the country's armed forces during a visit on Wednesday to the Defense Ministry.