Greece, Turkey exchange barbs over migrants

Greece on Thursday pushed back on criticism by Turkey that is violating the rights of refugees and migrants attempting to reach the country, saying Ankara has "instrumentalized human suffering."

"Those who were condemned by the international community for instrumentalizing human suffering to serve political expediencies have obviously no right to school anyone in human rights," Greece's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said that Greece "maintains a bad track record as proven by the reports of international human rights organizations for flagrant violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the asylum seekers, especially the right to life."

"It is shameful to call Turkey 'barbaric' by those who display all kinds of atrocities to the innocent people at the border in the...