Athens accused Turkey “of instrumentalizing illegal immigration” but Ankara has denied any involvement in the bad and degrading treatments inflicted on these refugees.
Le Monde with AFP
An “inhuman image”, according to the Greek Minister for Civil Protection. Friday, October 14, 92 refugees were found naked after being forced, according to Athens, to cross the Evros river separating Turkey from Greece. The European border surveillance agency, Frontex, confirmed on Sunday to the France-Presse agency that it has rescued these people with the assistance of the Greek authorities, according to a spokesperson, Paulina Bakula.
Frontex agents “reported that migrants had been found naked and some of them had visible injuries,” she added from Warsaw, siege of the organization, while Oenes assures that ‘Ankara forced these people to undress before expeling them on the Greek side of the border. 2> “shame on civilization”
The Greek Minister of Civil Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, accused Turkey “of instrumentalizing illegal immigration” but Ankara denied any involvement in the bad and degrading treatments inflicted on these refugees. Greece must stop “manipulation and dishonesty”, according to a tweet in English from the Turkish Deputy Minister of the Interior, Ismail Catakli.
Most of these refugees, Syrians and Afghans, “described to Frontex agents that three Turkish army vehicles had transferred them to the level of the Evros,” said Takis Theodorikakos in an interview with The private Skai television channel. The Greek Minister of Greek migration, Notis Mitarachi, qualified on Saturday the incident of “shame on civilization”.
Athens is regularly pointed out by NGOs and various journalistic surveys for illegal and violent repressions carried out at its maritime and terrestrial borders with Turkey. But she has always denied having recourse to this practice contrary to international law. At the end of September, in the United Nations Tribune, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Greece of transforming the Aegean Sea into “cemetery” with “its oppressive policies”.
Reacting to the incident on Sunday, the NGO Mare Liberum said that “in the Evros region, human rights crimes are systematic and committed on a daily scale on the part of the Turkey and Greece “. “When these crimes are discussed publicly by the members of the governments, it only serves to fuel the conflict between Greece and Turkey,” continues the NGO.