The EU has opened a 400-bed hospital on the Turkish border with Syria. The initiative is one of the largest EU funding projects in Turkey, which has received more than €10 billion in funds since 2014 for its hosting of several million refugees.
According to the humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch, Turkish authorities have rounded up hundreds of Syrian refugees, including unaccompanied children, and forced them back to northern Syria.
A group of Syrian refugees in Turkey is planning to form a caravan to reach the European Union. Organizers say Syrians are faced with discrimination and racism in Turkey and appealed to international organizations to facilitate the crossing.
Migrants in Turkey have told ANSA they were refused entry by Greek authorities as they were trying to reach the island of Lesbos. Illegal pushbacks against migrants at the hands of Greek authorities are well-documented.
Turkey has claimed that it has rescued a total of 130 migrants over the last 48 hours. It says the migrants had been trying to reach Greek islands in the Aegean and were pushed back by Greece.
Dozens of migrants remain missing after their boat sank off the Greek island of Karpathos. Meanwhile in northern Greece, reports are mounting of migrants being shoved back and forth between Greek and Turkish authorities.
Dozens of migrants have arrived in the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus in the last 48 hours, Cypriot authorities said Tuesday. At least 120 people have been detained.
Turkey’s defense ministry announced on Sunday it had filmed footage of Greek pushbacks. The news was reported by the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
Tourists have found two bodies on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos. They reportedly belonged to two male migrants who attempted to reach Greece from Turkey. The Greek coast guard, meanwhile, says it has prevented more than a thousand migrants from arriving in Greece over the weekend.
The European Union has allocated 50 million euros in additional funding to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable refugees hosted in Turkey. The funds will support healthcare services as well as legal and psychological assistance for migrants.
Greece says it prevented almost 600 migrants from entering its territory in the eastern Aegean Sea on Monday. Athens accuses Turkey of sending the boats deliberately towards its neighbor.
The Greek coast guard said it rescued more than 100 migrants near the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea on Saturday, May 8. In total, 106 people were brought ashore, including 14 women and 20 children.