Ankara: turkey And Greece More mutual discrimination was exchanged on 92 migrants found naked by Greek officials at the joint border of the two countries on Monday, a day after United Nations An inquiry has been demanded into the incident.
Greek Minister of Migration notice friend On Saturday it tweeted a photo of naked migrants, some physically harmed, accusing Turkey of pushing them into Greece and nuking them before doing so. The claim prompted Fahrettin Altun, the communications director to the Turkish president, to accuse Greece of being involved in “fake news”.
Turkey’s foreign minister on Monday again dismissed the allegation and accused Athens of “shameless and reckless” behaviour. they also targeted The European Union The countries accused him of encouraging EU member Greece to “malign” Turkey.
Meanwhile, Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou alleged that Turkey is “openly instrumentalizing migrants openly and even with unprecedented and unimaginable practices of vandalism.”
The exchange of charges comes at a time when tensions are rising between the two neighbours, both embroiled in mutual allegations of airspace violations and Turkey accusing Greece of militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea in violation of international treaties and Accused of threatening possible military action.
“To be able to look right even when you’re wrong like Greece – you need to be shameless and reckless. It’s only Greece that can achieve this,” Cavusoglu told a correspondent at the end of the foreign meeting in Istanbul. Said at the conference. Ministers of Turkish States.
“It is natural that Greece … seeks to discredit Turkey as its crimes increase,” Cavusoglu said. “Unfortunately, there are EU member states who want to believe it, who want to believe everything Greece says is true … that’s what encourages Greece.”
Greek police said on Saturday that police officers found the migrants naked on Friday, “some with physical injuries.” They had entered the country using plastic boats to cross the Avros River – known in Turkish as Merik – which forms a border between the two countries.
“This inhumane treatment is a disgrace to civilization, and the Turkish leadership, instead of blaming others for what is happening in its region, should investigate this incident, punish those directly involved and work with the EU.” must honor its obligations under the Joint Declaration.” A Greek government spokesman said in reference to a 2016 deal to stop the arrival of refugees.
Turkey regularly accuses Greece of violently pushing back migrants entering the country by land and sea. Turkey’s Coast Guard often shares videos of such pushback.
Greece accuses Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, of “pushing forward” migrants to pressure the European Union.
The UN refugee agency said it was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports,” condemned the “abusive treatment” and called for an investigation.
On Monday, Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement that a total of 61,737 migrants had been illegally pushed back from Greece since 2020, and that 152 migrants died as a result of the pushback. So far this year, 26,363 migrants were brought back illegally and 59 of them died, the ministry said.
“We strongly reject that the name of our country, which is pursuing humanitarian policies for irregular migrants… be mentioned side by side with Greece, which has been known for its inhuman treatment of migrants over the years. is,” read. Ministry statement.
Greek Minister of Migration notice friend On Saturday it tweeted a photo of naked migrants, some physically harmed, accusing Turkey of pushing them into Greece and nuking them before doing so. The claim prompted Fahrettin Altun, the communications director to the Turkish president, to accuse Greece of being involved in “fake news”.
Turkey’s foreign minister on Monday again dismissed the allegation and accused Athens of “shameless and reckless” behaviour. they also targeted The European Union The countries accused him of encouraging EU member Greece to “malign” Turkey.
Meanwhile, Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou alleged that Turkey is “openly instrumentalizing migrants openly and even with unprecedented and unimaginable practices of vandalism.”
The exchange of charges comes at a time when tensions are rising between the two neighbours, both embroiled in mutual allegations of airspace violations and Turkey accusing Greece of militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea in violation of international treaties and Accused of threatening possible military action.
“To be able to look right even when you’re wrong like Greece – you need to be shameless and reckless. It’s only Greece that can achieve this,” Cavusoglu told a correspondent at the end of the foreign meeting in Istanbul. Said at the conference. Ministers of Turkish States.
“It is natural that Greece … seeks to discredit Turkey as its crimes increase,” Cavusoglu said. “Unfortunately, there are EU member states who want to believe it, who want to believe everything Greece says is true … that’s what encourages Greece.”
Greek police said on Saturday that police officers found the migrants naked on Friday, “some with physical injuries.” They had entered the country using plastic boats to cross the Avros River – known in Turkish as Merik – which forms a border between the two countries.
“This inhumane treatment is a disgrace to civilization, and the Turkish leadership, instead of blaming others for what is happening in its region, should investigate this incident, punish those directly involved and work with the EU.” must honor its obligations under the Joint Declaration.” A Greek government spokesman said in reference to a 2016 deal to stop the arrival of refugees.
Turkey regularly accuses Greece of violently pushing back migrants entering the country by land and sea. Turkey’s Coast Guard often shares videos of such pushback.
Greece accuses Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, of “pushing forward” migrants to pressure the European Union.
The UN refugee agency said it was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports,” condemned the “abusive treatment” and called for an investigation.
On Monday, Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement that a total of 61,737 migrants had been illegally pushed back from Greece since 2020, and that 152 migrants died as a result of the pushback. So far this year, 26,363 migrants were brought back illegally and 59 of them died, the ministry said.
“We strongly reject that the name of our country, which is pursuing humanitarian policies for irregular migrants… be mentioned side by side with Greece, which has been known for its inhuman treatment of migrants over the years. is,” read. Ministry statement.