Greece returned eleven migrants to Turkey who did not qualify for international protection, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis announced on social media on Friday evening.
The group includes migrants from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, and Tunisia.
“We are speeding up procedures, implementing the new law we voted recently,” he said in his comment.
The news comes less than 24 hours after a 20-year-old man from Yemen was stabbed to death at the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos.
The number of migrants entering Europe from Turkey has risen significantly as people fleeing strife in Syria and Afghanistan flooded into the country and then set out for Greece, the head of the European Union’s border agency said Friday.
More than 82,000 migrants tried to enter Europe without authorisation in 2019, an increase of 46% over the previous year, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri said in Brussels.
“This was mainly due to the situation in Syria, but also instability in Afghanistan, and changing policies towards Afghan nationals by Iranian and Pakistani authorities,” Leggeri told reporters. He refused to blame the Turkish coast guard, saying it is “working well” to intercept people who leave.
Sourced by: AP News
