(MENAFN) The Turkish Interior Ministry on Monday refused Greece’s “baseless allegations” of Ankara abusing refugees, blaming Athens of “slander and defamation.”

Greece and its Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi are “once again conducting perception management tactics by using the photos of stripped naked migrants for which there is no location, nor any date provided,” the ministry stated.

“It is very apparent that Greece is trying to cover up the systematic unlawful pushbacks they have been doing routinely by confiscating all the belongings of the migrants including their money, phone, ID and passports, throwing them into the sea, by taking all their clothing and shoes, battering them naked with batons, injuring them with electro-shock devices, shooting at them with rubber bullets or putting them on worn-out lifeboats,” according to the declaration.

“Now, Greece that fails to even provide an explanation for these actions of inhuman treatment in the global arena is trying to put the blame on Türkiye through slander and defamation. Just like they have associated themselves with murder this time, the Greek government is also associating themselves with lies and slander.”

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