Turkish Foreign Ministry summons Greek envoy

ANKARA

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned Greek Ambassador to Ankara Michael-Christos Diamessis over his country’s violations of Turkish territorial waters and detention of journalists.

The Foreign Ministry called on Greece to end violations of the Turkish waters.

The ministry also urged the Greek side to release the detained journalists, who had reported about the humanitarian situation of asylum seekers in Lesbos and Rhodes islands.

Turkey recently announced that it would no longer try to stop asylum seekers from reaching Europe.

Thousands of asylum seekers have since flocked to Turkey’s Edirne province -- bordering Greece and Bulgaria -- to make their way to Europe.

The Greek reaction to asylum seekers has been harsh, with many battered, attacked, or tear-gassed, and even killed by Greek forces.

With 3.7 million Syrian migrants in Turkey already, more than any other country in the world, and some 1 million poised across the border in Idlib, Syria, Ankara says it cannot absorb another refugee wave.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut