Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that during his meeting with Bulgaria’s Premier Boyko Borissov a few days ago he refused to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The Bulgarian Premier had suggested that their meeting should also be attended by Greece’s Premier; however, Erdogan flatly refused to meet with him at that time.
“Greece persecutes those people. As far as I follow, they (Greek police) have killed at least five people. In addition to that, they stabbed the rubber boats of migrants to sink them, which is a cruel practice,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper.
“Those politicians (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis) should know that human life is not cheap,” Erdogan reportedly said.
These remarks were reported to have been made during Erdogan’s return from Moscow on Friday.
The Turkish leader’s statements show how far the level of Greek-Turkish relations have deteriorated in recent days, since this is the first time in many years that a Turkish leader has publicly stated that he will not meet with a Greek leader.
Meanwhile, the Greek government published a video on Thursday exposing Turkey’s clearly orchestrated effort to violate Greek borders by sending tens of thousands of migrants and refugees to the border. The video was posted to Twitter by Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
