ANKARA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has refuted EU's recent claims that there has been an increasing migrant flow from Turkey to Greece, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday.
The Greek government has recently announced emergency measures to tackle the arrival of "huge waves of refugees" at its islands, whom it claimed to have come from Turkey. The European Union has voiced its "deep concern" over the recent developments.
At a joint news conference ahead of a bilateral meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Soylu said a total of 30,842 migrants went to Greece during eight months last year, while the figures were 29,025 for the same period in 2019, representing a decline of 6 percent.
"We regret the recent statement from the EU," he said. "If the EU was concerned about Turkey as much as Greece, we would solve issues and problems better."
Turkey, the biggest host country of refugees worldwide, is home to over 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
