Following yesterday’s statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Mr. Cavusoglu, the Alternate Minister for Citizen Protection, Mr. George Koumoutsakos, responding to relevant questions by journalists, made the following statement:

“The recent statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Mr. Cavusoglu regarding a unilateral non-implementation of the 2014 readmission agreement between the EU and Turkey, as long as there is no visa liberalization for Turkish citizens by the European Union, constitute a repetition of the well-known positions and decisions made by Turkey from 2017 onwards.

These statements by the Turkish Foreign Minister do not regard the implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint Statement from March 2016.

Greece will continue to stress the importance of the full implementation of this Joint Statement and in this regard is taking relevant initiatives.

In this context, during the informal EU Council of Ministers responsible for Home Affairs and Migration Policy in Helsinki, which took place last week, as well as the informal meeting hosted by France with the participation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Interior of the EU Member-States in Paris last Monday, I underlined that Europe has to remain vigilant, stressing in parallel the critical dimension of the increase of migrant flows in the Eastern Mediterranean”.