"Turkey and Greece must cooperate to stop refugee trafficking in Aegean"

October 13, 2015
Written by E.Tsiliopoulos

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Monday stressed the need for cooperation between Greece and Turkey in order to control the activities of refugee and migrant traffickers in the Aegean.

"We have at this time, especially in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey, a situation in which the borders are open in the sense that traffickers can act as they like there, and which leads many people to put their lives at immediate risk. This is something that must change. At this time I cannot tell you with which precise cooperation - the coast guard or units of the navy - this can be achieved," the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

An orderly situation was needed on the external borders of the European Union, which was only possible if Turkey and Greece worked together hand in hand to drive out the traffickers and prevent their activity, he added, pointing out that both countries were members of NATO. He also stressed the need to be able to record those reaching the EU.

All this was not happening at this time and this meant that a major European mission lay ahead, he noted.

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