Boats Returning Refugees From Greece, Arrive In Turkey
KABUL: (MEP) The two boats carrying 131 refugees deported from Greece have arrived to Turkey under an EU deal with Ankara.
A third boat, carrying 66 people, came from the nearby island of Chios.
Around 200 migrants on Monday, mostly economic migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were sent back to Turkey aboard chartered Turkish ferries sailing from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.
Under the deal with the EU, Ankara is supposed take back all migrants and refugees who enter Greece illegally, in return for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and rewarding it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.
Many worried that Greece was overwhelmed with potential asylum seekers, and that authorities did not have the resources to process their applications – meaning that some refugees would be deported without exercising their right to apply for refuge.
Migrants deported to Turkey will be sent to the area in which they first registered their arrival, or if they did not register, to a detention camp in the north-west of the country.
Several registration tents have been erected on the quay at Dikili, where there is a heavy police presence.
