Greece accuses Turkey of trying to provoke it with migrant boats

Turkish deputy interior minister Ismail Catakli rejects claims, accusing Greece of pushing back 231 migrants in seven incidents.

Greece has accused Turkey of trying to provoke it by attempting to push boats carrying migrants into Greek waters, a claim Ankara strongly rejected. Greece and Turkey disagree on a range of issues, including energy resources in the Mediterranean Sea, and tensions between the NATO allies rose last year when thousands of asylum seekers in Turkey tried to storm the Greek land border. Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said the Greek coastguard reported multiple incidents on Friday of the Turkish coastguard and navy accompanying migrant boats “to the border of Europe, in an effort to provoke an escalation” with Greece.