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Greece: Refugee deal “uphill effort” as more keep arriving Greece sets up detention camps as refugee deal hits delays
(about 7 hours later)
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister warned Monday that an international agreement to limit the number of refugees traveling to Europe could not be properly implemented unless smugglers on the Turkish coast are stopped. ATHENS, Greece — Greece detained hundreds of refugees and migrants on its islands Monday, as officials in Athens and the European Union conceded a much-heralded agreement to send thousands of asylum-seekers back to Turkey is facing delays.
Turkey’s president, meanwhile, slammed European countries for their criticism of his country’s record on human rights and media freedoms and accused them of failing to protect the rights of refugees. Migrants who arrived after the deal took effect Sunday were being led to previously open refugee camps on the islands of Lesbos and Chios and held in detention, authorities on the islands said.
The refugee agreement went into effect Sunday, under which Greek authorities will detain newly-arrived refugees and send them back to Turkey and the European Union will settle more refugees directly from Turkey and speed up financial aid to help Turkey care for the 2.7 million Syrian refugees it is hosting. EU countries are trying to avoid a repeat of the mass migration in 2015, when more than a million people entered the bloc. Most were fleeing civil war in Syria and other conflicts, traveling first to Turkey and then to the nearby Greek islands in dinghies and small boats. Efforts to limit migration have run into multiple legal and practical obstacles.
On Monday, however, the two sides were still working out details of how the migrants will be sent back. Under the deal, Greek authorities will detain and return newly arrived refugees to Turkey. The EU will settle more refugees directly from Turkey and speed up financial aid to Ankara. The two sides, however, are still working out how migrants will be sent back.
“We have to make an uphill effort because implementation of this agreement will not be an easy issue,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said. “We are conscious of the difficulties,” EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said in Brussels.
Tsipras met in Athens with EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and asked the EU to increase pressure on Turkey to crack down on smugglers. “And we are working 24-7 to make sure that everything that needs to be in place for this agreement to be implemented soon is happening.”
Greek government figures released Monday said the number of stranded refugees in Greece now exceed 50,000 with no significant letdown in the number of daily arrivals. Commission officials said support staff needed to implement the deal — including hundreds of translators and migration officers — would not start arriving until next week. Returns, they said, cannot start until Greece changes its law to recognize Turkey as a “safe country” for asylum applications.
“Unfortunately, yesterday, there was a high number of arrivals, some 1,500,” Tsipras said. “If a reduction of (refugee) flows does not occur, we will not be able to evacuate the islands successfully so that the deal can start to be implemented fully.” The human rights group Amnesty International sharply criticized the plan.
Four migrants died Sunday while trying to reach Greece, two men off the island of Lesbos and two girls off the tiny islet of Ro, the coast guard said, as smugglers appeared to be opting for more overnight trips and increasingly dangerous routes. “Turkey does not offer adequate protection to anyone,” Iverna McGowan, the head of Amnesty’s EU office, told The Associated Press, accusing Turkey of routinely forcing Syrians back across the border.
Monitors from Turkey arrived Monday on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios to help supervise the agreement and were to stay for at least one week. Migrants, meanwhile, continued to reach Greek islands in large numbers, as smugglers appeared to be opting for more overnight crossings and increasingly dangerous routes.
Greece’s conservative opposition criticized the Turkish arrivals, a controversial topic as Greece and Turkey have ongoing boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea. Four people died Sunday while trying to reach Greece, two men off the island of Lesbos and two girls off the tiny islet of Ro, the coast guard said. More than 1,600 people made the crossing to Greece on Sunday, and 262 were rescued in five incidents after vessels sank or were in distress.
In Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had agreed to the refugee deal with the EU to prevent Syrian refugees from being subjected to “derogatory treatment” as they piled up at closed European borders. “We face an uphill effort. Implementation of this agreement will not be an easy issue,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said.
He also criticized Western countries for rejecting Turkish proposals for the creation of a no-fly zone or other secure zones in Syria, which he said would have prevented Europe’s refugee crisis. He met in Athens with EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and urged him to increase pressure on Turkey to crack down on smugglers.
“All those who have not accepted a no-fly zone and a zone cleared of terror in Syria, and everyone who complains about the refugees are two-faced and hypocritical,” the Turkish president said. Migrants and refugees have been stranded in Greece since Austria and Balkan countries started border closures in recent weeks. The number stranded reached 50,000 on Monday, with some 12,000 still camped out on Greece’s closed border with Macedonia.
On the Greek mainland, army personnel expanded refugee shelters at sites in central and northern Greece — mostly at former army bases — so migrants who traveled to the Greek islands before the agreement came into effect could be resettled. On the Greek mainland, army personnel expanded refugee shelters at sites in the central and northern parts of the country — mostly at former army bases — so migrants who traveled to the Greek islands before the agreement came into effect could be resettled.
Ferries transporting them from the islands were using the port of Elefsina, west of Athens, instead of the main commercial port of Piraeus, to allow authorities to cope with the increased numbers of migrants. “We are creating between 500 and 1,000 additional shelter places every day ... and the total right now is 36,000,” Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas said.
On Monday, monitors from Turkey’s interior Ministry arrived on Lesbos, Chios and three other Greek islands to help supervise the agreement and were to stay for at least one week.
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Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey. Cook reported from Brussels. Raf Cassert in Brussels, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece, contributed to this report.
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This version corrects to show that Erdogan spoke in Istanbul, not Ankara.
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Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.