By Associated Press
ANKARA: Turkey’s interior minister said Wednesday that authorities have recovered 12 bodies, believed to be those of migrants who froze to death after being pushed back into Turkey, near Turkey’s border with Greece.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Twitter that the 12 were among 22 migrants who were pushed back into Turkey by Greek border guards. He said they were found near the Ipsala border crossing between Turkey and Greece “without shoes and stripped of their clothes.”
The minister did not provide further details but accused Greek border units of acting “cruelly” and the European Union of being soft on Greece.
Turkey frequently accuses neighboring Greece of illegally pushing back migrants wanting to make their way into Europe. Greece denies the accusation.
Turkey is a major crossing point for migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa seeking a better life in European Union countries.
Most try to cross into Greece by either crossing the northeastern land border or cramming into smuggling boats headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands.
