92 Migrants Found on Greek-Turkish Border

File Photo: Migrants arrive with a dinghy at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP)
File Photo: Migrants arrive with a dinghy at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP)
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92 Migrants Found on Greek-Turkish Border

File Photo: Migrants arrive with a dinghy at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP)
File Photo: Migrants arrive with a dinghy at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP)

Ninety-two migrants were found almost naked and bruised after allegedly being forced across the Evros river from Türkiye into Greece, Athens said Sunday, a charge fiercely denied by Ankara.

EU border agency Frontex confirmed to AFP the arrival of the group in circumstances which the Greek ministry for civil protection said sent out an "inhuman image."

"The Frontex officers reported that the migrants were found almost naked and some of them with visible injuries," said Paulina Bakula, spokeswoman for the organization.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a tweet that it was "deeply distressed by the shocking reports and images of 92 people, who were reported to have been found at the Greek-Turkish land border, stripped of their clothes".

Bakula, speaking from Frontex's Warsaw HQ, said Frontex officers worked with Greek authorities to provide the migrants -- mainly Afghans and Syrians -- with immediate assistance.

She added the organization had informed the agency's fundamental rights officer of a potential rights violation.

Greek minister for civil protection Takis Theodorikakos accused Türkiye of "instrumentalizing illegal immigration" in the latest of a series of recriminations on migration between the neighbors.

Speaking on Skai television, Theodorikakos said many of the migrants told Frontex that "three Turkish army vehicles had transferred them" to the river which acts as a natural border.

In a series of scathing comments on Twitter, the Turkish presidency denied any responsibility for the migrants and blamed Greece for the "inhuman" situation.

"We urge Greece to abandon its harsh treatment of refugees as soon as possible, to cease its baseless and false charges against Türkiye," wrote President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top press aide Fahrettin Altun.

"With these futile and ridiculous efforts, Greece has shown once again to the entire world that it does not respect the dignity of refugees by posting these oppressed people's pictures it has deported after extorting their personal possessions," he added in tweets delivered in Turkish, Greek and English.

Türkiye's Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli called on Greece to stop what in a tweet he termed its "manipulations and dishonesty."

Greek minister for migration and asylum, Notis Mitarachi, had Saturday described the incident as a "shame on civilization."

Athens regularly faces and denies accusations from NGOs and the media that it has on many occasions sought to push migrants back to Türkiye illegally, sometimes using force.

Last month, Erdogan used a UN address to accuse Greece of transforming the Aegean Sea into a "cemetery" with "oppressive policies" on immigration.

Berlin-based rights group Mare Liberum tweeted: "In the Evros region, systematic human rights crimes against people on the move are committed on a daily basis by Türkiye as well as Greece".

"When these crimes are publicly discussed by members of the government, it only serves to add fuel to the fire of the long conflict between Türkiye and Greece, not to protect people on the move," the group added.



Crowds File into St. Peter’s on Last Day to Pay Respects to Pope Francis

Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Crowds File into St. Peter’s on Last Day to Pay Respects to Pope Francis

Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

Tens of thousands of mourners filed into St. Peter's Basilica on Friday on the last day to pay final respects to Pope Francis ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

Long queues snaked around St. Peter's Square and the surrounding roads, before being funneled through the heart of the basilica in a single column leading to the central altar, where Francis' open coffin was displayed on a dais.

The basilica was open for most of Thursday evening into Friday morning, shutting its doors for only three hours overnight.

The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was brought to St. Peter's in a solemn procession on Wednesday.

Since then, about 150,000 people from all over the world have bid farewell to the pontiff, the Vatican said.

"It's a very strong feeling (to be here)," said Patricio Castriota, a visitor who, like the pope, is from Argentina. "This farewell was very sad, but I thank God that I was able to see him".

"He's the only pope we've had who came from South America, a pope who had many good intentions for the Catholic Church," said Castriota. "He cleaned up (a lot) of the bad, maybe not all of it, but he tried."

Francis, who became pope in 2013, was the first pontiff from the Western hemisphere and was known for an unusually charming, and even humorous, demeanor.

His 12-year papacy was sometimes turbulent, with Francis seeking to overhaul a divided institution but battling with traditionalists who opposed his many changes.

"He humanized the church, without desacralizing it," said Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, who leads the Church on the French island of Corsica.

Queues on Friday morning were stretching halfway down the main boulevard leading through Rome into the Vatican.

People were pressing forward slowly, some waiting hours, in order to have a few minutes inside to pay their respects to Francis.

Vatican officials plan to end viewings at 7 p.m. on Friday, ahead of a formal rite to seal the late pope's coffin. The Vatican said it would close access to the line to enter the basilica about an hour earlier at around 6 p.m.

ROME PREPARES FOR FUNERAL

A conclave to choose a new pontiff is unlikely to start before May 6. In the meantime, the world's Catholic cardinals have assumed temporary control of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinals present in Rome are convening almost daily, primarily to discuss logistical matters, in what is called a "general congregation".

149 of the world's 252 cardinals were present for the meeting on Friday morning, the Vatican said, with dozens more expected to arrive through the rest of the day.

Francis' coffin will be sealed in a private ceremony on Friday evening led by eight Catholic cardinals, including a US prelate who has faced criticism over his handling of sexual abuse cases.

Among those also present will be the late pope's secretaries.

Rome is preparing for the arrival of dozens of world leaders attending Saturday's funeral, including US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

There had been speculation that foreign leaders might have diplomatic meetings on the sidelines of the funeral to discuss the war in Ukraine, but the Elysee Palace said on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron would not host any such meetings.

Trump was due to spend only about 15 hours in Rome, arriving late on Friday evening and leaving directly after the funeral.

Authorities have started ramping up security ahead of the ceremony, with snipers on rooftops, drones watching from the sky and an army device readied to neutralize hostile flying objects.

The heart of Rome is expected to be closed to traffic on Saturday to allow a funeral motorcade carrying the pope's remains to make its way slowly to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), where Francis, in a break from tradition, asked to be buried instead of St. Peter's Basilica.

Crowds are expected to gather along the route, which will pass by many of Rome's famed monuments, including the Colosseum.

The pope's tomb will be in a niche in a side aisle of the basilica, with just the word "Franciscus", his name in Latin, engraved on the marble.