Athens delivers demarche to Ankara over Greek official’s entry ban
Greece delivered a demarche to Turkey on Wednesday to protest the denial of entry to a regional governor in Izmir last Saturday.
The demarche was submitted to the Turkish Foreign Ministry by Greek ambassador Christodoulos Lazaris.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who is the Governor of Central Macedonia Region and the First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, travelled by sea on the day from Thessaloniki to Izmir, to attend the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of the Committee of the Regions.
When he reached the port city, Turkish authorities stopped him from entering the country and also reportedly kept him detained in an office for six hours. The Greek governor was given no explanation for being denied entry to Turkey.
The Foreign Ministry strongly criticized Turkish authorities’ decision, describing it as “unacceptable and totally abusive.”
“We expect the relevant Turkish authorities to give an immediate explanation and we call on them to take the necessary measures to avoid similar incidents in the future,” the Foreign Ministry said.
