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Greece Begins Sending Migrants Back as E.U. Deal Takes Effect Greece Starts Deporting Migrants to Turkey as E.U. Deal Takes Effect
(about 7 hours later)
MYTELINI, Greece — Before a long-negotiated European Union accord with Turkey went into effect last month, the breezy Greek island of Lesbos, set in the shadow of the Turkish mainland, was a port of passage for hundreds of thousands refugees seeking to travel further into Europe. MYTILENE, Greece — They had braved risks and hardships to get to Greece, having crossed the narrow strait from Turkey in flimsy rafts like nearly a million others last year — with hundreds dying along the way.
On Monday, the Greek and European Union authorities effectively started ushering people out, as a phalanx of police officers began enforcing a program of mass deportations of migrants back to Turkey. But on Monday, Greek and European Union officials sent them back — 202 migrants — beginning a central part of a deal worked out with Turkey last month to stem the flow of people making the perilous journey to European shores.
As the sun rose over the Aegean Sea, the final leg of many refugees’ journey to reach European shores, more than 100 officers from the European border agency Frontex marched 136 migrants who had been held in a closed, military-run camp here onto the ramp of two ferries. In this port on the island of Lesbos, as the sun rose over the Aegean Sea, more than 100 officers from the European border agency, Frontex, marched 136 migrants onto two ferries bound for the Turkish town of Dikili. Once there, the migrants were taken into tents for processing and then loaded onto buses — to where, Turkish officials would not say.
With Greek riot police flanking the port, the boats set sail to the western Turkish town of Dikili, where the migrants — mostly Pakistanis — disembarked and were taken into tents for processing before being loaded onto buses. Turkish officials blocked journalists’ access to the migrants and declined to comment on where they were being taken. An additional 66 migrants were deported from the island of Chios, where riots broke out last week among asylum seekers fearing deportation. In all, Greek officials said those deported were mostly Pakistanis and Afghans, though they also included two Syrians, who had not asked for asylum, the officials said.
No Syrian refugees were present in the first group of migrants that arrived back in Turkey on Monday, Volkan Bozkir, the European affairs minister for Turkey, said in a statement on Monday. The deportations were a significant step for the European Union in its effort to curb the migrant crisis. The deal with Turkey means that those landing here illegally will now be returned to Turkey.
Turkish officials have said that non-Syrians would be deported under the new deal, but it was not immediately known whether the migrants being returned to Turkey on Monday would face deportation. Since the deal with Turkey was struck, the number of people attempting the crossing has slowed to a relative trickle — though it has not ended.
Turkish officials have indicated, however, that people believed to be economic migrants will at some point be sent back to their home countries. Even as the 202 migrants were landing in Turkey on Monday, others were taking off, despite the fact that the Turks had pledged to cut off the route in exchange for 6 billion euros, or about $6.8 billion, and other inducements.
Around 66 migrants were also shipped back to Turkey on Monday morning from the Greek island of Chios, where riots recently broke out among asylum seekers who feared that they might not be able to stay in Europe. In Greece, the deportations have perils of their own, enough to make it unclear whether they can be scaled up quickly and sharply.
More than 800 migrants broke out of a military camp there Saturday to protest what humanitarian groups said were prisonlike conditions. Though the deportations on Monday did not meet any resistance, they sent new waves of anxiety through the overcrowded military-style camp where migrants are detained in Moria, on Lesbos.
Separately, Germany announced it was preparing to receive 40 Syrians, mostly women and children, from Turkey later on Monday, as part of a broader European Union initiative intended to help process asylum seekers and to deter illegal crossings into Europe from Turkey — as well as the smugglers behind them. Migrants in the camp shouted to journalists, complaining about their detention and the camp’s conditions from behind a chain-link fence topped with three rows of razor wire. Some yelled that they were being treated inhumanely and as criminals. Others defiantly said that they would not go home. Police officers then moved in and forced journalists to leave and broke up the crowd gathered at the fence.
Turkey and the European Union sealed a deal last month requiring migrants who illegally reach Greece from Turkey after March 20 to be returned to Turkey unless they qualify for asylum — a status that was recently limited to Iraqis and Syrians. In the past week, riots have broken out in several places, especially between Afghans and Syrians, many of whom have little idea of how the asylum process works and have grown increasingly fearful that, having made it this far, they will be sent home.
In return, the European Union has pledged to take in thousands of Syrian refugees from Turkey as well as to give Ankara more than 6 billion euros, or about $6.8 billion, in aid to improve conditions for migrants living in Turkey. More than 800 migrants broke out of a camp in Chios on Friday to protest what humanitarian groups said were prisonlike conditions.
The agreement also calls for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens traveling in the Schengen area of the European Union, which covers most of the Continent, if Turkey meets certain conditions by the summer. Greece is still waiting for thousands of police officers and specialists on asylum from other European Union countries to arrive to help with the process of sifting who will stay and who will go from among those who had already arrived in Greece before March 20, when the deal with Turkey went into effect.
Whether the deal works is something all of Europe is waiting to find out. In particular, it is unclear whether the deportations, which are likely to be small at the outset, can be scaled up sharply. Greece is still waiting for thousands of police officers and specialists on asylum from other European Union countries to arrive to help with the process. Those who have arrived since March 20 have been put in holding centers, and will be deported. Turkey and the European Union agreed that the Syrians and Iraqis among them who are judged to be refugees fleeing war can then apply from Turkey for asylum in Europe.
It is also unclear whether the more than 50,000 migrants stuck on the Greek mainland will wait calmly, or whether tensions will flare up again, especially in squalid makeshift camps in Piraeus, the port of Athens; in Idomeni, on Greece’s northern border; and in military camps on the Greek islands. For each new person Turkey takes in, one Syrian refugee already in Turkey will be sent to Europe. Those returned to Turkey and judged by the authorities there to be non-refugees will sent back to their home countries, Turkish officials have said.
Riots have broken out in the past week in several places around Greece among migrants, many of whom have little idea of how the asylum process works and have grown increasingly fearful that, having made it this far, they may be deported back to Turkey or their homeland.
“The main objective is to stick a blow to the business model of human trafficking from the Turkish coasts to the Greek islands,” said Giorgos Kyritsis, the Greek government’s spokesman on migration.“The main objective is to stick a blow to the business model of human trafficking from the Turkish coasts to the Greek islands,” said Giorgos Kyritsis, the Greek government’s spokesman on migration.
“The deal aims to convince people that until now were victims of the smugglers, that it is against their interests to risk their lives and pay all this money in order to make it to the Greek islands ,” he said, “and that the shortest and the only legal way to get to Europe is to be included in the resettlement program underway in Turkey.” “The deal aims to convince people that until now were victims of the smugglers, that it is against their interests to risk their lives and pay all this money in order to make it to the Greek islands,” he said, “and that the shortest and the only legal way to get to Europe is to be included in the resettlement program underway in Turkey.”
Even as the Turkish officials carried out a series of raids to crack down on smugglers in recent days, dozens of migrants, undeterred by the new regulations, left for Greece in rubber dinghies on Monday and were intercepted by the Greek and Turkish coast guards. Yet even as the Turkish officials carried out a series of raids to crack down on smugglers in recent days, some migrants have been undeterred by — or unaware of — the new regulations.
The migrants returned to Turkey on Monday were not failed asylum seekers, but people who had not applied for asylum. The processing of asylum applications on the Greek islands is expected to start on Thursday. No one who has applied for asylum will be sent back before receiving a definite answer from the authorities, Mr. Kyritsis said. On Monday, dozens of migrants set off for Greece in rubber dinghies and were intercepted by the Greek and Turkish coast guards.
Less than two hours after the ferries took the 202 migrants back from the Greek islands to Turkey, an additional 59 migrants from Syria were picked up by the Greek coast guard in a Zodiac rubber raft.
The Greeks brought them to port in Lesbos, and later the police ushered the group to the migrant camp in Moria, where nearly 3,600 migrants who arrived after March 20 are detained.
“Inshallah, I will get to Germany,” said one migrant, Mohamed Zaki, 22, after he was brought ashore. “We’re lucky — we are in Europe,” he said, adding that the smugglers did not inform them that deportations were now taking place.
The processing of asylum applications on the Greek islands is expected to start on Thursday and could take weeks if not months, if migrants appeal a rejection.
Mr. Kyritsis, the Greek migration official, said no one who applies for asylum would be sent back to Turkey before receiving a definite answer from the authorities.
As the expulsions got underway on Monday, several European countries said they were working to fulfill their end of the bargain with Turkey.
Germany announced that it was accepting 32 Syrians from Turkey in the state of Lower Saxony, and Finland said it would take in 11 Syrians. The numbers were still far shy of commitments to distribute about 160,000 asylum seekers among European Union countries.
In Lesbos, two German tourists shouted messages of support to the migrants from outside the fence at the holding camp in Moria.
“We don’t agree with these deportations,” said Adrian Ils, a retiree from Cologne. “I can assure you there are many people in Germany who don’t agree with the policy of closed borders.”
“It’s a shame the E.U. cannot find a common policy to share the problem,” he added. “We need to show our solidarity with desperate people — isn’t that what Europe is about?”