TURKEY denied involvement in an incident where Greece found 92 illegal migrants close to its northern border with Turkey, Turkish Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli said.
“As you couldn’t find one single case of a human rights violation by Turkey, you just seek to expose the image of your own cruelty as if Turkey did it,” Catakli said on Twitter replying to a tweet by Notis Mitarachi, Greek Minister of Migration.
Greek police said on Saturday that they have rescued a group of 92 migrants who were discovered naked and believed to have crossed into Greek territory from Turkey illegally.
Catakli also called on Greece to stop “manipulation and dishonesty”.
Greece’s Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos said on Sunday that migrants’ accounts suggested that they have been taken to Greece by the Turkish military police.
“One would expect a working explanation from the Turkish government’s side,” he told a Greek television station.
Greece has urged Turkey to respect a 2016 deal with the European Union in which Ankara agreed to contain the flow of migrants to Europe in exchange for billions of euros in aid.
Turkey says it has strengthened measures to prevent people smuggling.
Athens will soon extend a 40-kilometre fence along its northern border with Turkey to prevent migrants from entering the country, Theodorikakos said.