‘Let’s open the borders and send refugees to Greece’ - Erdoğan ally deputy

Mustafa Destici, a deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the chairman of the far-right Islamist/nationalist Great Unity Party (BBP), on Friday accused Greece of protecting Turkish coup plotters and proposed to open the borders between two countries and let Syrian refugees to flee Greece, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported .
3,189 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in Greece since the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016. The number of Turkish citizens that applied for asylum in Greece was only 100 between 2013-2016. Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak on Saturday chose the headline “Greece, the homeland of terrorists ,” when reporting the increase in the number of Turkish asylum seekers in the country.
Turkish government accuses Gülen movement, a religious group, of orchestrating the coup attempt and the members of the movement who fled to Greece since July 2016 have been a source of tension between two countries.
On Tuesday, the Greek Council of State has rejected a Greek government appeal against granting asylum to a Turkish soldier who fled his country following the failed coup attempt, while Greece’s asylum department has granted asylum to three more Turkish soldiers.
However, Turkish citizens seeking asylum in Greece are not limited to Gülen movement’s devotees. As an example, Leyla Birlik, a former parliamentarian for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), recently has illegally crossed over to Greece to apply for asylum.
According to far right BBP’s leader Destici, Greece is treating Turkey as an enemy and is not an independent country because of its economic problems.
Destici accused Greece of protecting the coup plotters and Gülen movement’s members and proposed Turkey to lift border controls and send everybody in Turkey who wants to flee to Greece.
“If Greece loves refugees that much, if it is so willing to provide shelter for people fleeing to Greece, then we can open our borders. In fact we should open our borders and send everybody in Turkey who wants to go to Greece, particularly Syrian refugees that want to move to the West,” Destici said.