Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the spirit of turmoil over the Greek-Turkish border saga told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the 2016 migration deal between Turkey and the European Union needs to be revised.

In a provocative move, he openly refused to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis risking unregulated immigration chaos from Turkey into Europe.

He reportedly went as far as to accuse Greek government of “chasing” refugees and the Greek coast guard of “sinking boats”.

“I don’t want to be in the same place or in the same photograph as him,” said Mr Erdogan on a return flight from Moscow, claiming that Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov tried to convince him to arrange a trilateral summit.

Responding to the comments the Greek Prime Minister told CNN that “Right now, let’s be honest, the agreement is dead… And it’s dead because Turkey has decided to completely violate the agreement because of what happened in Syria”.

“This is a conscious attempt by Turkey to use migrants and refugees as geopolitical pawns to promote its own interests,” he stressed, alluding that the people crossing into Greece are not from Syria but have been living in Turkey for a long time and are being assisted by Turkish authorities.

“They have systematically assisted, both at land and at sea, people in their effort to cross into Greece. Europe is not going to be blackmailed over this problem by Turkey.”

Mr Mitsotakis then called out the Turkish president, asking him “to stop being the instigator of fake news; completely false allegations about what is happening at the borders”.

“We’re not the ones escalating this conflict but we have every right… to protect our sovereign borders. We’ve succeeded in doing so and we’ll continue to succeed doing so in the future,” he said.

Also read: Tensions mount at Greek border with Turkey amid contested history of migration in the Aegean

Mr Mitsotakis who is scheduled to meet with Chancellor Merkel in Berlin on Monday will focus on a common EU asylum policy and ways to fairly distribute the burden of taking care of refugees across EU.

“Fiscal policy can help us alleviate the pressures on growth that will inevitably occur as a result of this outbreak,” he added referring to the extra strain COVID-19 has put governments under.

At the same time, US Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, said that “The United States… finds the current situation to be unsustainable, unacceptable”.

During a visit at Alexandroupoli Port in Greece he stressed that the uncontrolled movement of thousands of people who have been misled into believing that the road to Europe is open “is fundamentally destabilising, it’s unsustainable. It needs to change”.

“We support – as the President has made absolutely clear – Greece’s right to defend its borders,” he said. “I, personally, have been impressed with the professionalism of the Greek security services along the border, the way that they’ve handled themselves, the way that they’ve dealt with a very challenging set of circumstances. Greece has our support in terms of what it is that it’s doing both here, in Evros, and in the Aegean to ensure border security.”

Finally, as more hectic clashes erupted between Greek police and migrants amassed at the Greece-Turkey border crossing of Kastanies there were reports of Turkish police throwing tear gas at Greek police while also targeting the migrants.

In an unofficial handout accompanied by photographs and a video from an unidentified drone flying over the border showing “Turkish security personnel openly position(ing) themselves and assum(ing) formation shortly before the start of the incident”.

“This situation must end, because it is difficult both for us and the Turkish locals on the other side. But it is also hard on these kids sitting in the cold and rain and playing a cat-and-mouse game,” Theodoros Charisiades, resident of Kastanies told AP and Kathimerini.

As a last resort, buying the Greek government some time, the municipality of Sintiki, near Serres, has unanimously agreed to host a closed migrants’ camp 300 kilometers from the Greek-Turkish border.

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