RT, March 12, 2020

Turkey’s foreign minister has doubled down on Ankara’s claim that Greece is using Nazi-like tactics against migrants, tweeting a widely-cited NY Times article at his Greek counterpart. Athens insists the article is untrue.

Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared to be unmoved by Athens’ condemnation of remarks made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who compared Greece’s treatment of migrants to atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany.

The senior Turkish diplomat tweeted at Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in which he included a New York Times article alleging that Greece abuses migrants. “Have you seen this?” Cavusoglu wrote.

Dendias had earlier shared a statement describing Erdogan’s comments as “sad” and “unfortunate.” Cavusoglu’s message included a link to a New York Times article which alleged that Greece operated “black sites” where migrants faced abused and humiliation.

According to the paper, migrants trying to enter Greece have been captured, stripped of their belongings, beaten and returned to Turkey without due process.

The Greek government has denied the article’s accusations, and said that efforts to paint their treatment of migrants massing on the border as inhumane is nothing more than “spreading of fake news.”

Tens of thousands of migrants have been trying to get into Greece, an EU member state, following Ankara’s decision on February 28 to open its border and allow asylum seekers to head towards the European Union. Turkey has warned that its open-door policy for refugees traveling to Europe will continue until it reaches a new migrant deal with Brussels.