Official says Turkey is not an EU border guard

A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, said on Wednesday that his country is not a European Union border guard or a camp for asylum seekers.

Aksoy made the remarks in response to statements by a European Commission vice president for Promoting Our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, on Turkey and immigration.

The Turkish official explained that Schinas’s remarks on immigration resembled the Greek political discourse more than European Union officials.

He stressed that the European Commission whose task is to protect the EU’s founding agreements has not yet carried out any serious investigation into “rights violations on the European Union borders”.

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Aksoy called on Schinas to investigate the case of murdered Pakistani asylum seeker, Muhammad Gulzar by Greek officials and the continued forced return of migrants in the Aegean Sea and Evros River.

“Turkey is not and will not be a border guard for the European Union or a camp for asylum seekers. Our country, which suffers from the phenomenon of illegal migration, only wants the fair sharing of burdens and responsibilities,” he said.