The Macedonian Ministry for Foreign Affairs has delivered a note to the Liaison Office of Greece in Skopje, in response to yesterday’s verbal demarche by the Head of the Office, Ambassador to Macedonia, Theocharis Lalakos, which was presented to him personally during talks at the Ministry.
“Macedonian security forces during yesterday’s violent incidents acted with maximum possible restraint, responsibility and professionalism, and therefore acted appropriately to the security challenge of violent protests and aggressive attempts by large groups of migrants who were trying to illegally cross the Greek – Macedonian border, by breaking through the security fence on the border”, said the note according to Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA).
In order to avoid such incidents in the future, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has requested reinforcements and cooperation from the Greek security authorities and police, preventive action and sharing relevant reliable information on time. Also requested was the dissuading of violent protests by migrants and the prevention of illegal crossing from Greek territory into Macedonian territory.
The MFA said that the re-establishment of law and order in the border area, in and around the migrant camp in Idomeni is essential to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
The reaction by the Macedonian Foreign Ministry comes after statements by high officials in the Greek Government sharply criticized Macedonia for the incidents at the border.
Firstly, the Greek President, Prokopis Pavlopoulos sharply noted that Macedonia’s violent attitude towards the refugees has shown that the country does not deserve to be a member of neither the EU nor NATO. Then the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras said that “yesterday’s incidents in Idomeni brought major shame to Europe and Macedonia”.
Tsipras denounced Macedonia for attacking unarmed refugees who, according to him, did not constitute danger for the country and condemned the violent incidents which occurred in the camp at Idomeni.
He noted that yesterday’s incidents pose two new challenges for the Greek Government. According to Tsipras, one of the challenges are foreign activists who live around Gevgelija and encourage the refugees to protest. The second challenge, again according to Tsipras, is the attitude of the Macedonian police who violently attacked refugees who were unarmed.
