Alt FM Varvitsiotis: Greece will not turn into a corridor for migrants and refugees

“The Greek government is closely monitoring Turkish provocativeness, calmly and decisively,” Alternate Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis underlined after his meeting on Wednesday with Deputy Foreign Minister of Slovakia Martin Klus, who is visiting Greece.
“That’s why yesterday the Government Council on National Security decided a series of measures, among them an extension of the fence in Evros, to prevent any instrumentalisation of the migration issue by Turkey again,” he explained.

“Greece will not be converted from a country into a corridor for migrants and refugee that want to go to other European countries,” he said, adding that “the need to protect the European borders, which is a cornerstone of Greece’s European obligations, is often misunderstood”.

He noted that relations between Greece and Slovakia were “excellent”, both on a bilateral and European level, and referred to the hundreds of thousands of Slovaks who chose Greece to spend their holidays.

The bilateral relations will be further enhanced during a visit of the President of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, next week to Athens.

On his part, Klus assured everyone in Greece that Slovakia is very strict in terms of guaranteeing the security in the region and the territorial sovereignty of all states, adding that “Slovakia is always sending the necessary messages regarding the Aegean. We did it with Ukraine and Georgia and we will always support these countries’ territorial integrity and sovereignty”.

He also referred to EU enlargement, saying that the “EU’s enlargement will never complete without the integration of the Western Balkans. This is the best way for the promotion of sustainability, freedom, solidarity and for a better future for the Western Balkans”.

SOURCE; ANA-MPA