Greek Foreign Ministry made it clear: there is no way that Germany or any other ‘partners’ or ‘neighbor’ like Turkey will be involved in the country’s borders protection in order to stop the refugees influx. A day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated to talk to Turkey to cooperate in holdiing the refugees influx to Europe and asked for “coordinates actions in the Greek-Turkish borders of the Aegean Sea”, something like joint patrols, the Greek Foreign Ministry sent a clear message to Germany.
“The issue of joint-patrols with Turkey cannot even being discussed,” the Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman told journalists in a statement issued on Tuesday. He also called on Merkel to “finally stop the accountability game and focus on the solution of the problem” and stressed that the issue is “out of question.”
Merkel’s proposal was an “innovative idea,” the FM statement said adding “it cannot even discuss such ideas for joint Greek-Turkish patrols in the Aegean.”
It stressed that the Greek government has never even dreamed about to instruct the military of naval or armed forces to address the war refugees issue.”The proposal marked “novel idea” and verbatim stated that Greece can not “even discuss novel ideas that have seen the light of day recently as the joint Greek-Turkish patrol maritime borders”. Also reported that the Greek government “has never dreamed to instruct the naval or armed forces generally address war refugees.”
“We would like to remind our friends and partners in the EU and the NATO that for years Greece, which is at the crossroads of the refugee crisis, has been underlining the the need for a coordinated European action regarding the management of the refugees and immigration crisis. An action which will involve, inter alia, strengthening of the FRONTEX, the revision of the inapplicability of Dublin II, strengthen the transit countries and host refugees, in implementing the Greek-Turkish Readmission Protocol and the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement.”
The statement said further that Greece indeed “seeks cooperation with Turkey but only in areas like “exchange of information and readmission of refugees.”
“Greece protects its own borders that are also the EU’s external borders at a huge cost. It is understood that the strengthening of the European contribution to this demanding task is not only welcome but also necessary,” the statement of the Greek Foreign Ministry said, among others.
PS I suppose Merkel wants clean Aegean borders because the big German hotel chains are settled in South Turkey and the refugees ‘scare’ the tourists and the German profits off.
Merkel in a Turkish Kebab shop in Germany.
She is heading to Ankara tomorrow.
UNHCR chief António Guterres in Lesbos:
“It is amazing that on a small island, you are managing, whereas in a big Europe, with half a billion people, they are finding it so difficult,” Guterres told Lesbos Mayor Spyros Galinos and other Greek officials. “We are always saying this crisis is manageable at the European level, but to be manageable, it needs to be much better managed.”