Congressman Bilirakis responds to The New York Times over its reporting on Greece

Re: “‘We Are Like Animals”: Inside Greece’s Secret Site for Migrants”

Dear Editor,

Your reporting on the crisis at Greek-Turkish border misinforms the American public at the exact time that our government is considering how to diffuse this crisis.

The conscious decision to not report on Turkey organizing what the State Department has criticized as the “fundamentally destabilizing” and “unsustainable” movement of thousands of people toward the borders of the EU is inexplicable. This error is compounded by the lack of discussion of Turkey’s geopolitical motives, and that those that have been arrested are not Syrian asylum seekers but migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Somalia and Turkey itself.

I must also note that your official sources for this article are Turkish officials, and your “facts” do not match those we have ascertained through briefings Congress is receiving from the US Embassy in Athens or the statements of the Greek government. The New York Times should not let its pages be used as a distribution center for Turkish government talking points.

Respectfully,

Gus Bilirakis

Member of Congress