‘Provocative’ camp claims dismissed by Athens
Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos on Friday dismissed recent statements by a Turkish minister that Greece is a “training center for terrorists” as provocative and outright lies. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Greece was training members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Lavrio, in southeastern Attica.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made similar allegations in February.
Theodorikakos counter-charged that Ankara is weaponizing migrants by pushing them toward Greece’s borders.
“The statements of the Turkish interior minister that Greece is a training center for terrorists are provocative and have nothing to do with the truth and reality. And the whole of Europe knows this.”
He added that Europe also knows full well “that Turkey continues to weaponize unhappy people, irregular migrants, as it did in March 2020, pushing them many times forcibly toward our borders, which are Europe’s borders with Turkey.”
“We will not allow it. We are defending our borders in the name of international law,” he said.
