During the recent years, Greece has been the path for thousands of illegal immigrants for their crossing from Turkey to Greece and other European countries. Only in 2009, 146,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in Greek borders during their effort to pass into the Greek territory. The main places of entrance are the islands of Samos, Mitilini and Agathonisi which are situated near the borders with Turkey. In fact, Turkish slave traders make big profit out of the slave trading since they charge 2000-3000 euros for each immigrant for their journey from Turkey to Greece. Thus, Greek officials blame Turkey for taking insufficient measures to limit the outflow of immigrants from its own territory. As a result, the Hellenic Coast Guard possesses a key role in the area of the Aegean Sea. So, the only way to control illegal immigration is being every day in a state of alertness under unfavourable conditions.
Angelos Tzortzinis was born in Athens, Greece, in 1984. He studied at Leica academy in order to develop his creative skills in photography. Simultaneously, with the completion of his studies, he was selected by the competition �¨Young Greek photography 2007�¨. A freelance professional photographer, Angelos Tzortzinis is associated with the French Press Agency (AFP) in Greece. Nowadays, he works for the local magazine �¨VIMagazino�¨ which is a weekly supplement of significant in circulation daily Greek newspaper �¨VIMA�¨. His photographs have been published in such major foreign publications as Time magazine, New York Time, International Herald Tribune, Le nouvel observateur, Lâ??exress international. He lives and works in Athens.
