Greek ministries confirm border guards intercepted 92 naked migrants
- The incident occurred on Friday, according to the Greek Citizen Protection Ministry
- Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis called Türkiye’s treatment of the migrants that Greek border guards rescued a disgrace to civilisation
Greek government ministries say border guards have intercepted 92 naked migrants who were forced to cross the river Evros that marks the border with Türkiye.
The incident occurred on Friday, according to the Greek Citizen Protection Ministry. According to reports, officials from Frontex, the EU border protection agency, were also on the Greek side of the border at the time.
Frontex did not initially confirm the events.
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Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis tweeted a photograph of the men on Saturday, accusing Ankara of sending the people across the border.
He called Turkey’s treatment of the 92 migrants that Greek border guards rescued at the river a disgrace to civilisation and called on Ankara to investigate the incident.
The events were confirmed by the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection which said Greek Border Guard police had rescued the people “in cooperation with Frontex.”
The migrants were not clothed and had no luggage with them, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Some of the migrants had told Greek officials they had been transported to the river in three vehicles belonging to Turkish authorities and placed in rubber dinghies to cross to Greece.
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Some of the migrants were injured, according to a Greek police statement that said the people had been given clothing and were now being cared for.
Athens wants to almost completely seal the border at the Evros in northeastern Greece because of the rising number of illegal border crossings from Türkiye.
Greece is extending the 35km of border fencing along the river by a further 80km.
Greek border guards have also recently reported steeply rising numbers of refugees in the eastern Aegean.
