ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2020) The European Union and Athens should stop violating the rights of refugees and fulfill their obligations instead of criticizing Ankara, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in response to statements by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.
A day prior, Dendias said that Turkey was undermining security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, violating the sovereignty of Libya, Syria, Iraq and Cyprus. He made this statement at the end of a visit, along with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, to the town of Kastanies in the Evros region on the border with Turkey. Dendias noted that Turkey was actively sending migrants here to cross the border, but "an attempt to blackmail failed."
"The remarks made by the Greek Foreign Minister Dendias yesterday along with the EU High Representative Borrell at the Turkish-Greek border, constitute first of all, yet another new manifestation of Greece's efforts to cover up its human rights violations and crimes against asylum seekers under the EU umbrella. It is exemplary to witness that the EU Commission has now become an accomplice to this," Aksoy said in a statement published on the Foreign Ministry's website.
He called the statements of the Greek minister about the actions of Turkey in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean completely "detached from reality".
"Greece, along with the Greek Cypriot Administration, should wake up from their dream that they can confine Turkey to its shores, and that this is consistent with international law," Aksoy said.
Earlier this year, Greece and Bulgaria put up stiff resistance to waves of Syrian, African and Afghan asylum seekers that attempted to traverse the border over Turkey. The two countries accused Turkey of intentionally misleading the migrants that the EU will accept them for political ends.
