Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters

Turkey's Erdogan accuses Greek PM of migration 'lies'


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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of telling lies after Athens accused Ankara of "instrumentalising migration".

Ankara and Athens are often at loggerheads over migration, with the Nato allies accusing each other of failing to honour a deal to curb the flow of migrants passing through Turkey to Europe.

Mr Mitsotakis on Tuesday said Greece intercepted boats that came from Turkey, denying claims of pushing them back over the border.

"So rather than put the blame on Greece you should put it on those who have been instrumentalising migration systematically," he said.

Mr Erdogan, standing alongside visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accused Mr Mitsotakis of "acting dishonestly".

"It is Greece condemning refugees to their deaths in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas," Mr Erdogan said. He said Turkey had "all the documents" to prove his claims.

"I have no idea how Greece would handle it if Turkey opened the doors" to migrants trying to reach Europe, as it briefly did during an escalation of the dispute last year, Mr Erdogan said.

Turkey signed a deal worth €6 billion ($6.87bn) with the EU in 2016 to stem the flow of migrants after more than a million people fled to Europe in 2015.

Turkey is home to about 3.6 million refugees from the conflict in Syria, and is often used as a transit country to Europe by migrants from countries including Afghanistan.

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The BIO:

He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal

He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side

By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam

Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border

He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push

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Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier

ICC Academy, November 22-28

UAE fixtures
Nov 22, v Malaysia
Nov 23, v Hong Kong
Nov 25, v Bhutan
Nov 26, v Kuwait
Nov 28, v Nepal

ICC T20I rankings
14. Nepal
17. UAE
25. Hong Kong
34. Kuwait
35. Malaysia
44. Bhutan 

UAE squad
Chaya Mughal (captain), Natasha Cherriath, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Mahika Gaur, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Vaishnave Mahesh, Judit Peter, Esha Rohit, Theertha Satish, Chamani Seneviratne, Khushi Sharma, Subha Venkataraman

Updated: November 11, 2021, 10:52 PM