In one of the most egregious attacks against Greece, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Greece of intentionally drowning babies during his speech from the podium of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Turkish president, speaking at the annual UN assembly, went as far as to show photos of dead babies and claimed that this is the result of violent pushbacks by the Greek coast guard.

Erdogan said, among other things, that “we don’t want to see more dead babies like Aylan wash up on our shores,” going so far as to claim that last week a 9-month-old baby and a 4-year-old child died because the Greek coast guard sank their boats. In fact, after showing photos of the dead children, he called on the UN to say “stop” to the crimes against humanity committed by Greece.

“Greece is committing crimes against humanity. The Greeks tyrannize the refugees in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. We don’t want the bodies of children like Aylan washing up on our shores. Greece is turning the Aegean into a graveyard. Two small children lost their lives because the Greek coast guard sank their boats. It is time for the EU and the UN to put an end to such crimes, which are crimes against humanity,” said the Turkish president.

Continuing the crescendo of provocations, he called Greece “ridiculous” as it “seeks to make a show of strength”. “In the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, we want everything to be resolved based on the rules of good neighbourliness and on the basis of international law. In the eastern Mediterranean, maintaining peace depends on respecting the rights of all sides. Greece should put aside provocations and escalation and respond to our calls for solidarity and cooperation. We believe that the Euro-Mediterranean summit that we have proposed will serve this purpose. They never took a positive step and this shows who wants peace and stability and who wants to provoke and create conflicts,” the Turkish president argued.

“We will defend our rights in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean and we will not succumb to the escalation policies followed by other countries,” he added.

“Greece is a member of the EU and they are pushing forward in the Aegean in an inhumane way and they are applying similar policies to the Turkish minority in Thrace, ignoring their obligations. What we want to see is Greece doing its best and asking the EU not to turn a blind eye,” said the Turkish president.