Published : 24-08-2020
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has denied renewed claims of illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers at sea and accused Turkey of peddling "misinformation" about his country's "tough but fair" border management.
"If there's any incident that needs to be explored, if there's any exaggeration at any given point, I'm going to be the first to look into it," Mitsotakis told CNN late Wednesday.
"Greece is a country that respects the rule of law, we've granted asylum to tens of thousands of people," the PM said.
The New York Times on August 14 said Greece was "abandoning" migrants at sea for the Turkish coastguard to rescue.
It said it had interviewed survivors from five such episodes, and cited additional evidence from independent watchdogs, two academic researchers and the Turkish coastguard.
Based on its research, the Times said more than 1,000 asylum seekers had been "dropped at sea" since March.
Rights groups including the UN refugee agency have repeatedly called on Greece to investigate pushback claims.
"Such allegations have increased since March and reports indicate that several groups of people may have been summarily returned after reaching Greek territory," the UNHCR said in June.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has denied renewed claims of illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers at sea and accused Turkey of peddling "misinformation" about his country's "tough but fair" border management.
"If there's any incident that needs to be explored, if there's any exaggeration at any given point, I'm going to be the first to look into it," Mitsotakis told CNN late Wednesday.
"Greece is a country that respects the rule of law, we've granted asylum to tens of thousands of people," the PM said.
The New York Times on August 14 said Greece was "abandoning" migrants at sea for the Turkish coastguard to rescue.
It said it had interviewed survivors from five such episodes, and cited additional evidence from independent watchdogs, two academic researchers and the Turkish coastguard.
Based on its research, the Times said more than 1,000 asylum seekers had been "dropped at sea" since March.
Rights groups including the UN refugee agency have repeatedly called on Greece to investigate pushback claims.
"Such allegations have increased since March and reports indicate that several groups of people may have been summarily returned after reaching Greek territory," the UNHCR said in June.
