Though Ankara’s threats of war, provocations, and revisionism have been repeatedly denounced by the EU and major European powers, and criticised the US, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an address to the UN General Assembly today accused Greece of “crimes against humanity” as regards alleged pushbacks of refugees and migrants, and said that it is Turkey and not Greece that seeks peace in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Greece has steadfastly denied that its Coast Guard engages in pushbacks and has slammed Turkish authorities for cooperating with human smuggling rings that for years have been sending refugees and migrants in decrepit dinghies from the Turkish coast to Greece’s nearby Aegean islands.
Athens says that it has saved thousands of refugees and migrants in the Aegean, and does so on a daily basis.
The Greek government has repeatedly stated its policy of zero-tolerance of the entry into Greece of undocumented migrants, but it has often vehemently denied that it engages in pushbacks, that are illegal under international law.
In the last months Erdogan, top Turkish officials, and other political leaders have repeatedly threatened that they will occupy a Greek island or islands. “We may come at night,” Erdogan and other Turkish politicians have warned again and again.
Turkey’s foreign policy a ‘vision of peace’
Erdogan proclaimed that, “The vision of our foreign policy is peace.”
Ankara’s actions, however, have made it clear that it’s idea of peace is predicated on the violation of Greek sovereign rights guaranteed under international law and treaties, as exemplified in the “Blue Motherland” theory, which claims that over 150 Greek islands and rock islets, as well as large segments of Greece’s maritime jurisdiction (EEZ) under international law, are Turkish.
Erdogan slams Greece over alleged pushbacks, ‘crimes against humanity’
During his address, Erdogan brandished before the General Assembly a photograph of two refugee children who had died in an attempted crossing from Turkey to the Aegean islands, alleging that they died in a Hellenic Coast Guard pushback.
“We see that Greece’s pushbacks of migrants are increasing. Greece is turning the Aegean into a cemetery of refugees, while we are working to avert having the corpses of babies like Aylan washing up on beaches,” Erdogan declared.
“Last week, a baby named Asim, just nine months old, and four-year-old Abdulvahab, lost their lives on a boat that was sunk by Greek security authorities,” he said.
“Greece is carrying out crimes against humanity. The Greeks are torturing migrants in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean,” he declared.
He called upon the EU and the UN to say “stop to such crimes, which are crimes against humanity”.
Τurkey will defend its ‘rights’ in Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean
Erdogan signaled that Ankara will continue its hostile actions and violations of Greece’s sovereign rights in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
“We shall always defend our rights and we will not back off amidst a strategy of escalation of other countries,” he said, referring to Greece.
“In the Aegean ad the Eastern Mediterranean,we want a permanent settlement that is in line with the rules of good neighbourly relations and based on international law,” he said.
Ankara has repeatedly been criticised by international players over policies that aim at the violation of Greece’s sovereign rights, most notably over its islands.
Most recently, both France and the US denounced Turkey’s questioning of Athens’ sovereignty rights over the Greek Aegean islands.
Ankara’s diplomatic counter-attack, propaganda campaign
In the face of longstanding international criticism, Ankara recently launched a diplomatic counter-offensive that seeks to depict Greece, and not Turkey, as the troublemaker, by turning the facts on their head.
He called on Greece to “abandon policies of provocations and escalation”.
