Greece seeks further cooperation with Türkiye against migrant smugglers

Greece plans to ask neighboring Türkiye to crack down harder and deepen their cooperation on gangs trafficking would-be asylum seekers, a senior migration official has said.

Haberin Devamı
“We are not doing enough about migrant smugglers. We are raising the issue with our European peers and our Turkish neighbors,” the Greek official told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The cooperation which we intend to intensify with Türkiye will focus on the war against smuggling networks,” the source added.

Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos is expected to discuss the issue with Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya in November.

Last month, Turkish media outlets broadcast footage purportedly showing Greek Coast Guard vessels chasing inflatable dinghies, suspected to be carrying illegal migrants, as far as off the coast of Muğla, Türkiye’s Mediterranean shoreline.

In a phone conversation with Greece’s Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Minister Christos Stylianides on Sept. 23, Yerlikaya underscored that such breaches are intolerable if the two nations are to preserve amicable neighborly relations.

More than 37,000 asylum seekers entered Greece in the first nine months of the year, according to the Greek ministry figures.