The culmination of this Turkish provocationwith instrumentation of irregularities immigrants this is an unforgivable reality, stressed the Minister for the Protection of Citizens Takis Theodorikakosinforming the competent parliamentary committee, in connection with the latest developments in Euro.

Mr. Theodorikakos sent a message to every “modern slave trader” as well as to Turkey that “we will not allow anyone to illegally cross the Evros into Greece. This is a strong message about protecting our borders and respecting human life itself,” said Mr. Theodorikakos. [..] mind your own business.”

Citing Greek police data, Mr. Theodorikakos said that in August alone, 36,386 people tried to enter the country, while since the beginning of the year, the police prevented the entry of 154,102 illegal immigrants, 852 arrests of illegal traffickers, and 3,881 arrests were made. and 2,500 arrests of illegal immigrants in the Attica basin.

Referring to the artificial fence along the Greek-Turkish border, he said that the expansion of the fence as a whole continues, as well as the modernization of electronic surveillance systems.

At the same time, he noted that since March, ELAS has rescued 234 illegal immigrants who were “placed on the Evros islets.”

In particular, with regard to the recent incident in Evros, Mr. Theodorikakos reiterated that our forces operate exclusively on Greek territory, since if they are on foreign territory, “the sack of Aeolus opens.”

He also pointed out that the latest events in Evros showed it was bad for the country, while immigrants condemned Turkey’s actions as the opposition fuels Turkish propaganda:

“The rescued migrants themselves actually denounced Turkey by what they said, but mainly by what they recognized and described that they had moved from the Turkish side, from the areas where they lived. [..] to the Greek-Turkish border with the prospect of being taken by Greece, although this was an illegal form of immigration. While the rescued themselves denounced Turkey, the official opposition denounced the Greek side, spouting Turkish propaganda. This shouldn’t happen again. It needs to be rebuilt. National interests must always take precedence over party interests,” he said.

^{Source: APE-MEB}