ISTANBUL, March 4 — Turkish officials said Greek forces had killed a migrant and wounded five others today as they tried to cross the border between the two countries, a claim rejected by Greece as “utterly fake news”.
Turkey, alarmed by the prospect of another wave of refugees fleeing war in northwest Syria, said last week it will no longer uphold a 2016 deal with the European Union to keep hundreds of thousands of migrants on its soil in return for EU aid.
Since then more than 10,000 migrants - mostly from Syria, other Middle Eastern states and Afghanistan - have massed on the Greek border hoping to get to western Europe. Greek security forces have used tear gas to stop them crossing.
Two Turkish security officials and the local governor’s office in Edirne said the migrant had died in hospital from a chest wound after Greek police and border guards fired live ammunition near the crossing at Pazarkule. They said five others had suffered head and leg wounds.
A senior Greek army source dismissed what he said was “utterly fake news from the Turkish side”.
Speaking to reporters, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas also denied the allegations of migrant injuries and of the migrant death.
“Turkey is disseminating fake news... I dismiss this categorically,” he said.
Yesterday Greece also denied a Turkish claim that Greek forces had killed three migrants trying to cross onto its territory. — Reuters
