Türkiye slams Greece for 'lies, slander' over migrant pushbacks

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Interior Ministry on Monday rejected Greece’s “baseless allegations” of Ankara mistreating migrants, accusing Athens of “slander and defamation.”

Greece and its Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi are “once again conducting perception management tactics by using the photos of stripped naked migrants for which there is no location, nor any date provided,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It is very apparent that Greece is trying to cover up the systematic unlawful pushbacks they have been doing routinely by confiscating all the belongings of the migrants including their money, phone, ID and passports, throwing them into the sea, by taking all their clothing and shoes, battering them naked with batons, injuring them with electro-shock devices, shooting at them with rubber bullets or putting them on worn-out lifeboats,” read the statement.

“Now, Greece that fails to even provide an explanation for these actions of inhuman treatment in the global arena is trying to put the blame on Türkiye through slander and defamation. Just like they have associated themselves with murder this time, the Greek government is also associating themselves with lies and slander.”

Despite its violations having been widely documented, Greece “has not taken a step back and continues to violate human rights embodied in the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention,” the ministry said.

“For years now this inhuman treatment and actions by Greece have been exhibited vis-a-vis the eyes of the whole world with images and international reports depicting punctured boats, their engines removed, migrants who have been battered and even shot at with the aim to kill,” read the statement.

The ministry underlined that Greece’s inhuman treatment is extended to all migrants “with no discrimination even for women or children.”

A total of 26,363 migrants, of which 21,770 were in the Aegean Sea and 4,593 were at the Greek land border, have been subject to illegal pushbacks by Greek forces, the ministry said.

It said 59 migrants lost their lives as a result of pushbacks – 21 in the Aegean Sea and 38 at the Greek land border – while 54 migrants were injured.

“We call upon Greece that has yet to account for the drowned babies in the Aegean Sea to end the inhuman treatments against migrants and the migration policy that results in deaths,” it added.

Türkiye and human rights groups have previously documented numerous cases of migrants trying to cross the border to Greece being beaten, stripped, and their belongings stolen.

Greece has long pursued an illegal policy of pushing back asylum seekers trying to reach its shores as an entry point to Europe.

Human rights groups and leading media outlets have frequently reported the pushbacks and other human rights breaches of Greek authorities, which violate EU and international laws.

Türkiye and rights groups have also condemned the practice, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.