The Greek government has called on the European Union to help ensure the return of 1,450 failed asylum seekers currently in camps on the Greek Islands to Turkey "on the basis of the EU-Turkey deal".
The European Union has paid the final instalment of a €6 billion fund to Turkey as part of a deal on hosting refugees. The 2016 agreement has led to standoffs, as Turkey claimed that it had not received all the money promised.
Greece is considering changing its asylum law so more people could be returned to Turkey under the 'safe country' rule. The Greek migration minister also told InfoMigrants that state support for refugees could end after just a few months under further proposed changes.
The body of a young boy, thought to be six years old, was discovered by the Greek coast guard near the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. A woman, still conscious, was located in the same spot along with ten other migrants nearby. Six others were located on land after their boat ran into trouble off the Greek island.
In the first nine months of the year, significantly fewer migrants have come to Europe from Turkey by irregular means. That's according to a German media report that cites EU sources, which also revealed that Germany is no longer receiving the most asylum requests in Europe.
The Greek government announced its final plans to extend and strengthen the wall along a section of the Turkish border on Monday, October 19. The wall is expected to cost €63 million and will extend the existing barrier by about 26 kilometers.
The allegations against the Greek coast guard come as Greece accuses Turkey of aiding human traffickers move migrants and refugees to Greece.
A vessel with 74 migrants and two people smugglers on board has reached the port of Katakolo in western Greece after sending distress signals over the weekend. Two Turkish nationals on board the yacht have been detained.
Greece's migration minister rejected claims on Monday saying that the Greek government was involved in illegally pushing back migrants and refugees at sea. Notis Mitarachi said that false reports about pushbacks were being spread by people smugglers, as changes to Greece’s border policies was damaging their business.
German soldiers have filed reports saying that they had repeatedly observed migrant boats in the Mediterranean being pushed back into Turkish waters. The German dpa news agency said it had information chronicling at least three such instances in June 2020 alone.
Several German federal states have offered to take in refugees and migrants currently stuck in Greek Island camps. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer however has blocked their efforts, arguing for a unified solution on the federal level as well as across the European Union. His critics accuse the minister of sending mixed messages.
Earlier in the year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped to gain political leverage by threatening to send migrants and refugees into the EU. But numbers published by the European Commission show that his attempts were futile — largely because of the extent of the global pandemic slowing down migration patterns.