An official of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has expressed concern about the alleged treatment of hundreds of asylum seekers in Greece.

The official, Kris Janowski said that the asylum seekers -- from Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon -- had to wait months in Greece before getting shelter.

He said he had written to the Greek authorities twice since September asking them to speed up the processing procedures, but had not had a constructive response.

He said that some asylum-seekers, irrespective of where they came from, were being returned to Turkey without being given the chance to request asylum.

According to the agency, more than four-thousand people sought asylum in Greece in 1997.

About half the applications had been examined, and of those a-hundred-and-thirty had been granted.