Government spokesman Stelios Petsas on Friday dismissed a recent article in the German magazine Der Spiegel, which restores allegations that a Pakistani national had been shot dead, possibly by Greek soldiers, while attempting to cross from Turkey into Greece in March.
The article titled "The Murder of an Immigrant at the Greek-Turkish Border," was originally published in March in German, but on Friday the magazine published it in English.
“No evidence was ever provided in early March proving that the actions of Greek security forces resulted in loss of life. In fact, these allegations were immediately denied by the Greek authorities,” he said in a statement and pointed to a similar comment made on March 4.
Petsas insinuated that the report may be related to “disinformation campaigns” launched by Turkey. "Waging disinformation campaigns is nothing new for Turkey. Thankfully the international community understands the full extent of Turkeys' methods and practices."
"As a sovereign state, Greece has the right to protect its borders against any attack and violation. It did so in March 2020, when Greek Police and Military forces were charged with using non-lethal means to deter those attempting to enter Greece illegally from doing so. Greek forces executed their mission with absolute success and in full accordance with their orders," the statement concluded.
The timing of the article being republished comes when a confidential report from the European border protection agency Frontex, revealed that they expect a number of illegal immigrants will soon be heading towards Greece again from Turkey, according to Germany’s Welt.
Read the full statement here:
