Turkish President Erdogan’s attempts to use the migration crisis as a political lever to enforce Turkey’s will in the region was the subject of an article this week in German magazine Spiegel, which included an interview with Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis.
The Greek Foreign Ministry in an announcement said Mr. Varvitsiotis sent a loud message that Europe must not appear to fear Erdogan’s migration-related threats.
“In his statements in the latest issue of Der Spiegel, which includes a special report on the migration crisis and the EU-Turkey agreement on refugees, Mr. Varvitsiotis reacted to the Turkish president’s recent threats that he would flood Europe with migrants, highlighting that Turkey is converting the migration issue into a foreign policy tool and using migrants as leverage.
“The Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs also sent a message to the European partners that ‘ must not appear to fear Erdogan's threats at all,” read the statement.