EU covering up Greek rights violations against refugees: Turkey

Turkey has strongly denounced remarks by top Greek and EU officials critical of Ankara’s handling of the refugee issue along its borders, calling them an attempt to whitewash Athens’ human rights violations.           

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement on Thursday that the remarks by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell at the Turkish-Greek border were an example of a desperate attempt "to cover up human rights violations and crimes against refugees".

"The fact that the EU Commission is complicit is unfortunate," he added.

 "We invite the EU and Greece to fulfill their responsibilities instead of blaming our country, and to show respect for refugees' rights," Aksoy noted.

On Wednesday, Borrell said Brussels was determined to protect its frontiers as he visited the Evros border. The area was the scene of clashes in March after Turkey said it would no longer prevent migrants from going to Europe.

 After accompanying Borrell to the border, Greece's top diplomat accused Turkey of encouraging a fresh surge of migrants into Europe.

Turkey has "once again declared that its land borders to Europe are open," following a brief respite during the pandemic, Dendias said.

 "At the same time, its coastguard escorts boats laden with migrants to the Greek islands."

Already tense relations between Ankara and Athens deteriorated further when thousands of refugees flocked to Turkey's land border with Greece after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in late February their attempts to leave would not be stopped.

Erdogan to Greece: Open your borders to migrants

"Let them go to other European countries," Erdogan said of the migrants.

Thousands of migrants mostly from Syria and Afghanistan gathered in March at the Greek land border hoping to get to Western Europe. But there was violence at the frontier as Greek police fired tear gas at migrants trying to break through the fence. 

Ankara has repeatedly complained that Europe has failed to keep its promises under the 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.

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Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says a 2016 refugee deal between the country and the European Union needs to be updated.

Officials at EU headquarters in Brussels have called for emergency meetings of migration and foreign ministers to decide joint measures to be taken by the bloc.

There are also tensions in the eastern Mediterranean after Turkey signed a maritime agreement with Libya late last year which expanded Ankara's claims over the area.

Dendias said Turkey "continues to undermine security and stability, as well as peace, in the eastern Mediterranean".

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Turkey and Libya start implementing agreements on maritime boundaries and security and military cooperation, drawing an angry reaction from Greece.

Aksoy rejected the Greek minister's statements as "completely disconnected from reality". He urged Greece to stop "trying to set up an alliance of malice against Turkey and abusing the EU, which will have no benefit for Greece".

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