{"id":117037,"date":"2021-04-03T12:12:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T04:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=117037"},"modified":"2021-04-03T12:12:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T04:12:46","slug":"greece-accuses-turkey-of-trying-to-provoke-it-with-migrant-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=117037","title":{"rendered":"Greece accuses Turkey of trying to provoke it with migrant boats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/english.aawsat.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/article_img_top\/public\/2021\/04\/02\/migrants_are_seen_on_an_inflatable_boat_as_local_residents_prevent_them_from_disembarking_in_lesbos_island_on_march_1_2020._afp.jpg?itok=eoqin9_8\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Migrants on an inflatable boat prevented by local residents from disembarking in Lesbos island<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ATHENS, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Greece accused Turkey of trying to provoke it by attempting to push boats carrying migrants into Greek waters, a claim Ankara strongly rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greece and Turkey disagree on a range of issues, including energy resources in the Mediterranean, and tensions between the NATO allies rose last year when thousands of asylum-seekers in Turkey tried to storm the Greek land border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said the Greek coastguard had reported multiple incidents on Friday of the Turkish coastguard and navy accompanying migrant boats &#8220;to the border of Europe, in an effort to provoke an escalation&#8221; with Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It is beyond doubt that these migrants departed Turkish shores, and given the fact they were supported by Turkey, were not at risk,&#8221; Mitarachi said in a recorded statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We call on Turkey to stand down and stop this unwarranted provocation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turkish Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli responded to Mitarachi on Twitter, saying that he was distorting the events and telling lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catakli accused Greece of pushing back 231 migrants in seven incidents that took place on Friday, adding that Turkey rescued them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a crime against humanity to slander the Turkish Coast Guard saving people you left to death. That&#8217;s typical of you!,&#8221; Catakli wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Greek coastguard said that in one incident a boat carrying migrants tried to enter Greek territorial waters on Friday accompanied by a Turkish coastguard vessel. In another, two Turkish vessels tried to push a dingy with migrants into Greek waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a third incident off the island of Lesbos, a Turkish coastguard vessel entered Greek territorial waters and harassed a Greek patrol boat, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nearly a million asylum-seekers, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, crossed to Greece from Turkey on boats in 2015 at the start of Europe&#8217;s migration crisis. A year later, the EU struck a deal with Ankara to stem the flow and numbers fell dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mitarachi called on Turkey to &#8220;live up to&#8221; its commitments under the deal. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<em>s<\/em><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Migrants on an inflatable boat prevented by local residents from disembarking in Lesbos island ATHENS, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Greece accused Turkey of trying to provoke it by attempting to push boats carrying migrants into Greek waters, a claim Ankara strongly rejected. Greece and Turkey disagree on a range of issues, including energy resources in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":117041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209,217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117037"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/117041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}