N. Mitarakis in “K”: “We do not hide the fact that we do not want them to enter Greece illegally”
Over the course of a month, the 38 migrants appear to have moved several times to different parts of the region.
On the occasion of the case of the 38 immigrants in Evros, the “K” spoke to the Minister for Immigration and Asylum Noti Mitarakis.
We asked him to explain to us how it is possible for a period of a month for a group of dozens of people to move along the borders and the Greek authorities being unable to locate them, despite the technical means at their disposal.
“Let me tell you that about 1,000 people a day are in the area trying to cross, according to EL.AS data. These are transportable and mobile groups. From July EL.AS. he had been to various places, he informed us afterwards. He told us that they had gone there without finding anything,” he says.
In another part of it of his interview with “K” says that the 38, as they mentioned in their testimonies, were moved several times to different places. In accordance with “K” report which was published in last Saturday’s newspaper, the Headquarters of EL.AS. was informed of the existence of the migrants on July 14, by email sent by Human Rights NGO 360. On July 27, the army replied that the islet on which the migrants were said to be stranded was on Turkish territory. “When did you inform the Turkish side about the incident?” we asked the minister.
“When the matter began to gain intense attention, EL.AS. sent two signals to Captain Andreevo in Bulgaria, in which they requested the Turkish coasts to move. We have videos of the Turkish authorities going to the islet and throwing boats into the Evros to get to the islet,” he replied. Mr. Mitarakis points out that the disputed islet in Evros was only 14 meters from the Greek bank of the river. “It is simply impossible to get trapped in Evros”, he stressed. “Even if the migrants are in the middle of ‘criss-crossing’ deterrents from Greece and Turkey?” we asked him. “We do not hide the fact that we do not want anyone to enter Greece illegally. And Turkey is doing push forwards which are a violation of the 2016 joint statement.”
At another point in his interview he stated that in the debriefings the migrants did not mention that they were sent back to Turkey by Greek police officers. Related complaints exist in appeals to the European Court of Human Rights.
The minister disputes that there was a dead child buried on the islet. “From the information we have and the photographic material, there is no missing child. The initial testimonies that were wrong”, he says and points out that in the photos that have been published from the island, he does not identify four girls from the same family but three, saying that “there is no missing child”.
THE “K” pointed out to Mr. Mitarakis the statements he had made after his visit to the Prison on 16/8, on 16/8 he had said that steps would be taken to locate the body and bury it with dignity. A few days later, even in a ministry announcement, there is talk of a “tragedy”.
“I said on 8/16 that the evidence shows that there is a child. I talked to people and that was the first estimate. The Greek state cannot draw conclusions in two minutes on Twitter”, he says and adds that he concluded that it was not a dead child before his speech in Parliament at the end of August.
“Turkey is making push forwards in violation of the 2016 joint statement”.
Mr. Mitarakis was asked about the interviews given by two members of the group from within the Prison, which were shown at the beginning of September on the ANT1 television station. The two men referred to a child.
“Of the statements taken, 10% confirm the incident. Of these no one saw everything, the family did not bury their own child, they said others did and no one has a photo of the grave or burial. They don’t want to bury the child,” said the minister referring to the debriefing held at the Police Station after the group was identified.
The controversial list
Regarding the evidence on which this conclusion is based he says that in the original July list the family stated four and not five children. “The list is very well written, it was definitely not written on the islet, with the mobile phone, it was definitely written in an organized way before they started. He has the family, he has no mistakes, he has the rest right and the only thing missing is the child who died”, he states in detail.
THE “K” brought to the minister’s attention that the initial list of 50 names of applicants does not include Bayda’s information and that in the second application to the ECtHR on 9/8 the applicant organizations state that the detour was not included, while she was in the original group and was contacted by on July. “Indeed, Baida appears at the last moment,” said Mr. Mitarakis. He describes her as “in a way a spokesperson for this effort,” because of her knowledge of English and the videos she took from the islet.
In their testimonies, which the Minister has emphasized in his statements, the members of the group stated that they were sent to the island under threat from the Turkish forces. How can Greece consider Turkey a safe third country for Syrians when it admits to treating people this way? “Turkey hosts 4 million refugees and immigrants. The occasional attempts to instrumentalize a few dozen or hundreds of people do not change the fact that Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, a member of NATO, a signatory to the Geneva treaty. Until we find no reason why Turkey cannot respond in these moments and when sometimes there is no reason to say that it should do so”, replied the minister.
“The goal was not to harm the government, the goal is to stop Greece guarding its borders in the way it is doing,” argued Mr. Mitarakis regarding the Evros case. “They “pulled” a story for us to go collect them, they achieved their goal.”
On the day that talk to “K”, the minister came under fire on social media. He had posted a video on Twitter that had 76,000 views of his appearance in a TV series where he played himself. “There’s a sense that politicians don’t have human lives,” he said, adding: “I didn’t expect it to become so popular.”
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