Athens, March 1 (RHC)-- Greece's government spokesman Stelios Petsas Saturday announced that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis administration has prevented some 7,000 people from entering his country across the border with Turkey.

According to this official, the people who are on the Greco-Turkish border near Evros do not come from Idlib, a Syrian province where the presence of Al-Qaeda has fueled an armed conflict.

On Saturday morning, however, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that 18,000 people had crossed their borders as a result of the war actions that took place in Idlib.

For his part, Petsas said the Greek government "will do whatever it takes" to safeguard its territory and protect the European borders.