The United Nations’ Refugee chief has demanded an investigation after 92 migrants were found stripped naked on the border between Turkey and Greece.
Greek police announced on Saturday that the group of men, mainly from Afghanistan and Syria, had been discovered on Friday near the river Evros that marks much of the border between the two states.
Some of the men, who had crossed the river into Greece on rubber rafts, showed “bodily injuries,” they said.
The office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi said it was “deeply distressed by the shocking reports and images.”
“We condemn such cruel and degrading treatment and call for a full investigation into this incident,” the UNHCR office said.
Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi tweeted an image of the naked men on Saturday, accusing Turkey of abusing the migrants.
“Turkey’s behaviour towards 92 migrants whom we rescued at the borders today, is a shame for civilisation,” Mitarachi wrote. “We expect Ankara to investigate the incident and protect, at last, its borders with the EU.”
An image tweeted by Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi shows a group of 92 illegal immigrants discovered at the border with Turkey stripped naked and showing signs of injuries
Turkey denounced the tweet as “fake news”, with Prime Minister Binali Yidirim’s spokesman Fahrettin Altun tweeting on Sunday that the claim was “baseless and false.”
“To be able to appear right even when you are in the wrong like Greece – you need to be shameless and reckless,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. “It’s only Greece that can achieve this.”
European Union (EU) member Greece and longstanding applicant for the bloc Turkey have had numerous border disputes over immigration and other issues in recent years.
Greece and the EU have both accused Turkey of encouraging thousands of migrants, claiming to be refugees from the war in Syria, to force their way across the border to Greece,
North Macedonia and Bulgaria since 2016.
