Giorgos Koumoutsakos

Giorgos Koumoutsakos, the permanent representative of Greece to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has lodged a demarche to UNESCO in Paris, after the decision by Turkish authorities to convert the Monastery of Chora in Istanbul into a mosque. 

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias briefed the representatives of the parliamentary parties on the situation in Sudan on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will hold meetings with representatives of Greece's opposition parties on Monday, as part of their regular briefing on current foreign policy issues.

One hundred and six asylum-seekers left Greece on Wednesday for Mulhouse, France, according to a Migration Ministry press release Wednesday.

The transport is part of a plan to relocate a total of 1,000 people to France, the ministry said.

So far, 275 asylum seekers and 131 unaccompanied migrant and refugee children have already been relocated to France.

A group of 86 asylum seekers, most of whom had previously been staying on eastern Aegean islands, flew to Hannover, Germany on Thursday as part of a resettlement program of 1,024 asylum seekers which began last July. 

The group that left on Thursday consisted of children with serious health problems, along with family members.

Greece participated as an observer in a meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) for the first time on Thursday.

The meeting was chaired by Switzerland's Deputy Migration Minister Mario Gattiker, while Greece was represented by his counterpart Giorgos Koumoutsakos.

Belgium confirmed its intention to receive 150 refugees and asylum seekers from Greece by the end of the year during a teleconference on Wednesday between Deputy Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos and the Belgian secretary of state for asylum and migration, Sammy Mahdi.

Koumoutsakos thanked the Belgian government for its practical solidarity with Greece.

There is no evidence of an organized plan by Turkey to send migrants to the border with Greece, as was the case last March, Alternate Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos told Greek broadcaster SKAI on Thursday morning.

"There is no confirmation of an organized plan," he said, adding there is "spontaneous mobility" near the area which is not unusual and has happened in the past.

The US government will provide 2.9 million dollars in financial assistance to Greece to improve the living conditions of unaccompanied minors and support the islands against the Covid-19 pandemic, it was announced by Alternate Minister for Citizens' Protection Giorgos Koumoutsakos and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt following a meeting on Thursday.

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt on Thursday conveyed a decision by the State Department to bolster humanitarian aid to Greece in a telephone conversation with Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos.