Ankara deploys 1,000 police at Greek border to stem pushback of migrants, minister says

Turkey is deploying 1,000 special force police along its border with Greece on Thursday to halt the pushback of migrants towards its territory, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

The comments come amid a war of words between Ankara and Athens following Turkey’s decision to no longer abide by a 2016 deal with the EU to halt illegal migration flows to Europe in return for billions of euro in aid.

Soylu told reporters in the northwestern border province of Edirne that Greek police wounded 164 migrants trying to cross the border, Reuters reports. “They tried to push 4,900 people back to Turkey… We are deploying 1,000 special force police to the border system,” he said, adding that the aim was “to prevent the pushback.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with EU officials on Wednesday to discuss developments in Syria and the migrants flooding the European borders. His spokesman later said that “no concrete proposition” on the migrants was made at the talks.