9 February 2017, 12:57 GMT
ATHENS (Sputnik) — NATO will continue the Mediterranean mission to deter human smugglers despite Turkey questioning its efficiency in curbing illegal migration to Europe, the Greek defense minister said Thursday.
"The NATO Defense Ministers’ decision to continue the SNMG 2 [Standing NATO Maritime Group 2] is a major success despite our differences with Turkey," Panos Kammenos said in a statement following a meeting of the ministers in Brussels.
He underscored that an overwhelming majority of defense ministers from NATO member states – all but Turkey – deemed the 2016 phase of the operation in the Aegean Sea successful.
A NATO force has been deployed to maritime area the mainlands of Greece and Turkey since last March in a bid to stop people’s traffickers from smuggling undocumented migrants into Europe, predominantly Greek islands.
