Turkey slams Greece over treatment of asylum seekers

ANKARA

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias' remarks on social media are “concrete evidence of the inconsistent, double-standard, illegal and inhumane policies" pursued by this country, said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman on Sunday, referring to the asylum seekers along the Turkey-Greece border.

In a written statement, Hami Aksoy said, “Greece does not protect the borders of the European Union, to the contrary, disgracefully tramples on the very principles and values this Union was built upon, by treating the migrants coming to its gates as enemies instead of human beings."

Greece is attacking asylum seekers without sparing women and children, “which remind[s] the practices of Nazis”, by using gas, bullets and pesticides on them.

On its 17th day, the asylum seekers' are still waiting on the European border.

Some try river crossings to reach Greece, and the others are waiting for the Greeks to open the gates in a buffer zone between Turkey’s Pazarkule and Greece’s Kastanies border crossings.

Greek border forces use gas, bullets and pesticides on asylum seekers, and over 10,000 asylum seekers spend their nights in tents as the weather gets colder.

Aksoy noted that Greece disregards “international law, human rights and European values, on which it keeps harping on.”

“Greece is violating all of the legal instruments such as European Convention on Human Rights, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and UN Convention Against Torture simultaneously,” he added.

Aksoy noted: “The attempts of Greece, who does not seem to be able to approach problems with a comprehensive and humanitarian point of view, to abuse the EU and irregular migrants as tools for its short-term political interests are the main sources of the problems in our region.”

On the maritime jurisdiction zone in the Mediterranean Sea, Aksoy said Greece's claims of maximalist maritime jurisdiction contrary to the international law do not only violate the rights of Turkey but also those of Libya.

Aksoy said Dendias errs also on the Libya issue.

Referring to the problems of the Turkish minority, Aksoy said while Greece identifies the Greek minority in Albania as the Greek national minority, "it is also hypocritical that it does not call the Turkish minority in Greece, Turkish".

“Minister Dendias seems to have forgotten that the European Court of Human Rights has found multiple violations by Greece in this regard,” he added.

"Our [Turkey's] desire is to be able to find rationalist and common solutions to all the challenges in our region within a framework of good neighborly relations and cooperation, without resorting to blame-games," the foreign ministry spokesperson said.