Friday

29th Mar 2024

Turkey snubs Greece on migrant returnees

  • Greece wants to return 1,450 failed asylum seekers back to Turkey (Photo: Reuters)

Turkey will not consider accepting the return of some 1,450 rejected asylum seekers in Greece, despite Athens' demand last week to do so, until after the coronavirus pandemic.

"Once the pandemic is taken under control, we will reassess the situation with respect to the return of irregular migrants," said Turkish diplomatic sources, in an email to EUobserver on Saturday (16 January).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The sources also noted that Greece, along with other EU member states, is not itself currently accepting the entry of Turkish citizens because of the coronavirus.

The response follows requests last week by Athens for Ankara to accept the immediate return of 1,450 people, as part of the 2016 EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to the Greek islands.

That March 2016 pact, also known as a joint-statement, includes having Turkey take back people from Greece not entitled to international protection.

Notis Mitarachi, Greece's minister of migration and asylum, drove home the point last week.

"We expect Turkey to step up its efforts under the joint statement," he said, adding that only 139 returns to Turkey had taken place for the whole of 2020.

Some 955 out of the 1,450 are on the Greek island of Lesbos, followed by 180 in Chios, 128 in Samos and 187 in Kos.

Mitarachi has demanded that both the European Commission and the EU's border and coast agency, Frontex, step in to help facilitate the returns to Turkey.

A spokesperson from the European Commission last week said the Brussels-executive is preparing a reply.

"The commission is aware of the challenges faced by Greece," said the commission spokesperson.

He also said the commission will "support any efforts" by Greece to resume returns from the islands as part of the EU-Turkey statement.

For its part, Frontex can only launch an operation to implement returns once after it is first discussed at the political level.

Exclusive

EU anti-fraud office launches probe into Frontex

EUobserver was tipped off about the investigation by an anonymous source, who said Olaf had raided the offices of Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri and his chef de cabinet in early December given alleged misconduct.

EU sends mixed message on Turkey as 'safe' haven

Greece has declared Turkey a safe country for asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Syria and Somalia. But the European Commission appears to have shed doubt on the claim, saying individual cases still need to be assessed.

Investigation

How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Psychotropic drug abuse is one of the many dangers migrants face along the Balkan route. In overcrowded camps, doctors prescribe tranquilisers to calm people down. And black market circuits and pharmacies selling drugs without prescription contribute to the issue.

Analysis

Election in sight, EU mood music changes on offshoring asylum

Designating a country like Rwanda as 'safe' under EU rules to send an asylum-seeker there requires strict conditions to be met first. But a backdoor clause introduced into EU legislation allows a future commission to strip out those requirements.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us