A leaked diplomatic letter from the Greek government to several of its embassies has claimed that the Turkish government is looking to use the coronavirus outbreak as cover for a major provocation on the border.
The letter was sent by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to embassies in the United States, Germany, France, and the UK. It stated that intelligence officials had determined there was a high likelihood of a Turkish provocation along the border.
The contents of the letter, which was obtained and released by German tabloid Bild, was allegedly authenticated by a senior official who told the newspaper: “Our secret services informed us that Turkey could now cause a ‘dramatic incident’ in the midst of the corona chaos. They could try to take advantage of the situation. We had to warn our embassies to take action.”
The letter also instructed the embassies to contact the governments of the countries in which they are located and inform local media as to the potential of Turkish aggression along the border.
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the gates to Europe late last month, over 50,000 migrants have attempted to illegally cross the border into Greece.
The Greek government has made repeated accusations that the Turkish government has been bussing in migrants to the area and at least one Turkish border official admitted to Swedish media that he had been instructed to help migrants cross into Greece.
“We have checked that everything has gone well and that the smugglers do not charge too much. We also have intelligence about where and when it is safe to get over,” the soldier told newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Greece has also claimed that Turkish officials have helped arm migrants along the land border by the Evros river with tear gas. Greek authorities recently deployed large fans to push back tear gas attacks in the direction of Turkey.