Mitarakis refutes Spiegel, Channel 4 reports on Evros 38
Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter of response to Channel 4 and Der Spiegel regarding the reports they published about the 38 migrants stranded on an islet in the Evros River on Greece’s border with Turkey.
Greece, he noted, has been unfairly criticized and its reputation unfairly tarnished. The minister reiterated that the accusations that the 38 migrants were on Greek territory are false.
He also noted that even the NGO HumanRights360, which represents the group of 38 applicants at the European Court of Human Rights, admitted that the islet where the migrants were located is within Turkish territory.
In fact, he stressed, the group clarifies that the Hellenic Police, the Hellenic Armed Forces and the Greek government have pointed out from the beginning that the islet was located in Turkish territory.
“If we had acted, Greece would have violated the Turkish border,” he said in the letter.
Regarding the reports of a dead child in Evros, he stressed that it is clear from the facts and from the available photographic material that has been collected that there is no evidence of either a missing child or a dead child.
He said that the testimony to the European Court of Human Rights referred to four children (born 2013, 2013, 2017 & 2018) and that they are all alive and well in Greece.
He also said that no fifth child has been reported, and no fifth child appears in any of the photos.
As for the child who was reported to have been stung by a scorpion, Mitarakis stressed that they are in good health, adding that no person required hospitalization after the initial checkup.
