Locked in by dissatisfaction with its policy of accuracy and cover-up of the wiretapping scandal, the government is struggling to change the agenda with fake news even in the case of 38 refugees. Popi Tzapaniduin response to a question from government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou.

His press secretary SYRIZA-PS comments that “however, the data speaks for itself” and mentions, in particular, the following:
“Firstly, the European Court of Human Rights called on our country to protect these people.

Secondly, GES confirmed that 38 people were on the islet, which was also Greek, contrary to false claims by the government.

Thirdly, as we emphasized from the very beginning, either the government should have detained them, or it should have raised the issue politically, so that the UN and the EU would put pressure on Turkey to detain them and investigate what happened on the island.

Fourth, all this time, the parents insist on the death of their child, as do two other refugees who spoke to Spiegel, who even state that they were pressured to change their testimony.

Fifthly, the same information, i.e. the death of a little girl, was conveyed in public statements and posts even by the competent Minister, Mr. Mitarakis, on August 16, stating that it follows from the statements that a five-year-old child has died and that the necessary actions will be taken to ensure that that his body be found and properly buried by his family.

Sixth, today the newspaper Kathimerini publishes the testimony of another refugee who refutes the parents and refugees who have reported the death of a child to the international media until today. Even if – without a second thought or further investigation – the government, through the representative of the government, is in a hurry to accept only the latest evidence as the truth and use the tragic case for expediency, it overlooks that even this evidence vividly describes the exploitation of refugees by human traffickers, Turkish border guards, but also people in hoods who beat them to death on Greek soil to prevent them from entering the country.”

Ms. Tsapanidou asks “how proud Mr. Economou can be of this, who in his statements today also demands changes”, and notes that “in any case, if the government had followed the position we proposed from the very beginning, today we will know whether the truth lies in the previous testimonies of witnesses and parents who insist that they lost their child, or in the current testimonies of the refugees, which refute them.

He emphasizes that for SYRIZA PS, “the response to this horrendous situation described today in Kathimerini is not the small-party expediency game that Mr. Oikonomou is again trying to play, but the approval of European and Euro-Turkish agreements on flow reduction and deals.” with traffickers, in accordance with international law. That’s what border security should be focused on.” But, he concludes, “for the government of Mitsotakis, which needs a Greece, a jailer who takes on the dirty duties of a fortress of Europe, this is the fine print.”

Source: APE/MEB