The row between Greece and Turkiye with 22 migrants dead, after 2 migrant ships sink.
Both parties lay blame on the other, with Greek authorities suggesting that Turkish authorities are pushing migrants down the road to Greece, often at gunpoint.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced “deep sorrow for the tragic loss of life,” and praised rescuers’ “heroic” efforts.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a heated exchange during a dinner for the leaders attending the first meeting of the European Political Community on Thursday.
The heroic Greek rescue effort
Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage in the wind-tossed waters off the Greek island of Lesbos on Thursday as 22 migrants dead. The death toll from the separate sinkings of two migrant boats is expected to rise, with many still missing.
The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.
The shipwrecks further stoked tension between neighbours Greece and Turkey, who are locked in a heated dispute over maritime boundaries and migration.
“As long as the Turkish coastguard does not prevent their activities, the traffickers cram unfortunate people, without safety measures, into boats that cannot withstand the weather conditions, putting their lives in mortal danger.”
Greek Shipping Minister Yannis Plakiotakis
Turkey denies the allegations and has publicly accused Greece of carrying out reckless summary deportations, known as pushbacks.