Greece’s Alternate Migration and Asylum Minister, Giorgos Koumoutsakos on Monday accused Turkey of using the hopes of poor and unfortunate migrants and refugees to blackmail Europe.
The response by Koumoutsakos was directed to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu concerning the situation on the Greek border.
"Turkey, which systematically ignores and violates international law, and which has now come face to face with the dead ends [created by] its policy, is exploiting the hopes of unfortunate people to blackmail Europe, placing their lives and the region's stability and security at risk. It can neither make suggestions nor accuse Greece of anything," Koumoutsakos said, adding: "Only an immediate change to its dangerous policy can extricate [Turkey] from the dead ends it has created for itself."
Meanwhile Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias will meet with Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, at 14:15 on Tuesday, 3rd March.
The talks will focus on current developments in the migration and refugee issue. They will also discuss the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the European perspective of the Western Balkans.