“The video undoubtedly shows the obvious efforts of the Turkish coastguard boats, making dangerous maneuvers, to direct the boat towards Greek waters,” according to a statement from the Greek coastguard, which rarely publishes such images. “Once again, Turkey has behaved like a ‘pirate state’ in the Aegean Sea, in violation of its commitments to the European Union,” Giannis Plakiotakis, Greek Minister of the Merchant Navy, was quoted as saying in the statement.
In the video, to which the AFP news agency had access, two Turkish boats can be distinguished and one of them makes a quick maneuver in front of the boat, in which there are about 15 immigrants. Afterwards, the Turkish ships retreat, like the boat, in the direction of the Turkish shores.
Reports in recent months have been published by numerous media outlets and NGOs accusing Greece of rejecting immigrants and sending them back to Turkey, something that the Greek authorities have always denied. The European Commission called in early October for these allegations to be investigated.
The German MEP, Cornelia Ernst, published a tweet five days ago in which she claimed to have met five Somalis during a visit to the Greek island of Samos, who were “in hiding” for “fear of being expelled to Turkey” and explained that they had prevented this from happening by handing them over to the local police herself. The Greek government said it will investigate this episode.
Source From: Ambito
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