Ninety-two naked migrants found being forced across river

Ninety-two migrants were found almost naked and bruised after allegedly being forced across the Evros river from Turkey into Greece, Athens said Sunday.

EU border agency Frontex confirmed to AFP the arrival of the group in circumstances that the Greek ministry for civil protection said sent out an "inhuman image."

"The Frontex officers reported that the migrants were found almost naked and some of them with visible injuries," said Paulina Bakula, spokeswoman for the organisation.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a tweet that it was "deeply distressed by the shocking reports and images of 92 people, who were reported to have been found at the Greek-Turkish land border, stripped of their clothes".

Bakula, speaking from Frontex's Warsaw HQ, said Frontex officers worked with Greek authorities to provide the migrants - mainly Afghans and Syrians - with immediate assistance. 

Turkey accused of 'instrumentalising illegal immigration'

She added the organisation had informed the agency's fundamental rights officer of a potential rights violation.

Greek minister for civil protection, Takis Theodorikakos, accused Turkey of "instrumentalising illegal immigration" in the latest of a series of recriminations on migration between the neighbours.

Theodorikakos told Skai television many of the migrants had told Frontex that "three Turkish army vehicles had transferred them" to the river which acts as a natural border.

Ankara denied any responsibility and Interior Minister Ismail Catakli called on Greece to stop what in a tweet he termed its "manipulations and dishonesty."

Greek minister for migration and asylum, Notis Mitarachi, had Saturday described the incident as a "shame on civilisation."

Athens regularly faces - and denies - accusations from NGOs and media as having on many occasions sought to push migrants back to Turkey illegally, sometimes using force.

Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a UN address to accuse Greece of transforming the Aegean Sea into a "cemetery" with "oppressive policies" on immigration. 

Reference: The Telegraph: Our Foreign Staff -