Greece prevents more than a thousand migrants from Turkey from landing on its islands

Athens accused Monday, June 27, Ankara of having tried to send during the last three days to the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea nearly 1,130 migrants in total whose boats "

".

"

," said Yannis Plakiotakis, Greek Minister of Merchant Marine and Island Policy.

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Greek port authorities have "

," the minister said in an interview with Real FM, a private Greek radio station.

In May, Greek authorities said they had prevented around 600 migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea into Greece from neighboring Turkey in one day.

According to a source from the Ministry of Migration, the number of migrants coming from Turkey for the first four months of the year was almost 30% higher than for the same period last year.

“

,” Yannis Plakiotakis said on Monday, again accusing Ankara of favoring smuggling networks.

Read alsoEastern Mediterranean: Turkey and Greece renew dialogue

Two years ago, in March 2020, Ankara opened its doors to Europe and tried to bring thousands of migrants across the Greek-Turkish land border, repelled by Athens with the help of the European Control Agency borders, Frontex.

On the territorial claims front, Athens last month called “

in a letter to the UN Secretary General.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that he will no longer participate in bilateral meetings with Greek leaders that have been held regularly since a 2010 agreement between the two countries.

Turkish authorities have also accused Greece of positioning troops on the islands of the Aegean Sea which separates the two countries, in violation of peace treaties signed after the first and second world wars.