Greek ministry issues reponse to Hungarian officials’ criticism

Greece’s foreign ministry on Thursday issued a response to statements made by Hungarian officials regarding Greece’s handling of the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis.

“We find it difficult to witness either the wave of statements from Hungarian officials against our country or, and mainly, what the UN Secretary General characterizes as the ‘unacceptable’ conduct of Hungary’s forces of order against the refugees, including infants, who are living through the drama and misery of war,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantinos Koutras said in the statement.

The use of violence and armed patrols as well as leading “victims of war into Balkan minefields” did not constitute appropriate behavior for a European Union member state, said the ministry spokesman.
 
“It is obvious that the burden of the current, unprecedented refugee crisis cannot be shouldered by one country alone – in this case, Greece, which is doing everything humanly possible,” noted Koutras. “These urgent circumstances require humanity, cooperation, solidarity and coordination with the other European partners, and not brutal cynicism, provocative statements, the use of violence, or a return to Cold-War walls.”