Turkish envoy to Greece calls for cooperation
Greece and Turkey need to work closely on tackling migratory flows because they are “both victims of the refugee crisis,” the Turkish ambassador in Athens, Kerim Uras, told Greek journalists on Wednesday.
Uras admitted that the readmission process is not working properly but pointed to the reduced flow of migrants on the Evros border as an example of the two countries being able to cooperate effectively.
He also said there had been more than 4,000 phone calls between the search and rescue centers in Piraeus and Ankara from June 26 last year to December 16 this year.
Uras also said that 60 percent of Turkey’s coast guard is active in the Aegean and that this costs 60 million euros a year.
He added that Turkey has arrested 3,807 human traffickers.
