Greece said
on Tuesday it had no plan to carry out joint sea patrols with neighboring
Turkey to stem an influx of migrants and refugees into Europe.
Many others have died at sea while making
the short but perilous crossing on flimsy rubber boats. The member states of
Europe, meanwhile, have struggled to agree on a strategy to control the flow of
people. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Monday suggested that Greek
and Turkish coast guard and navy team up to crack down on traffickers that
migrants are turning to in their effort to reach Europe.
"Greece ... never considered assigning
to its navy or armed forces in general the task of confronting refugees of war,
and nor can it even discuss the novel ideas expressed lately, such as that of
joint Greek-Turkish patrolling of maritime borders," foreign ministry
spokesman Constantinos Koutras said in a statement.
He said that Greece wants to cooperate with
Turkey to improve the management of migrant inflows and crack down on
trafficking but that this could be done mainly by exchanging information or
sending back migrants who arrive without documentation.
Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas called on
the EU to treat Turkey generously and offer it "incentives and
rewards" including financial support to accommodate refugees there. U.N.
refugee agency chief Antonio Guterres was in Athens on Monday and questioned
the European Union's strategy of building more camps in Turkey to stem the flow
of refugees into Europe.
Πηγή: reuters.com
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