First
boats returning migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey
Two
boats carrying 136 people are at port of Dikili after leaving Greek
island of Lesbos early on Monday
Two boats carrying
the first migrants to be deported from Greece to Turkey under the
EU’s deal with Ankara are waiting to disembark in the Turkish port
of Dikili, a few hundred metres from the quayside.
Patrick Kingsley in
Dikili, Helena Smith in Mytilene and agencies
Monday 4 April 2016
07.43 BST
According to Greek
sources, the 136 deportees are mainly Pakistanis, who were already
being deported to Turkey prior to the deal’s creation – meaning
that Monday’s deportation is not a true test of whether the
agreement can stop the flow of mainly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis to
Greece.
Pictures showed the
deportations were carried out in a calm manner at dawn, several hours
ahead of schedule, on the Greek island of Lesbos.
The first boat to
moor in Dikili is a chartered Turkish catamaran, the Nazli Jale.
Officials from Frontex, the EU border agency, were seen inside the
boat wearing masks. Disembarkation was delayed while officials erect
a white tarpaulin on the boat to block the view of the media.
Migrants deported
back to Turkey will be sent to the areas they first registered when
they first arrived on Turkish soil, or if they never registered, to a
detention camp in southern Turkey, Turkish media is reporting.
Several registration
tents have been erected on the quay at Dikili, where there is a heavy
police presence.
Officials have taken
down a huge banner next to the quay that said the citizens of Dikili
opposed the dumping of refugees in their seaside town. But local
opponents of the deal claim that 4,000 people have signed a petition
of complaint.
“Dikili is very
small – just 40,000 citizens,” said Emirhan Çekun, as he asked
passers-by to sign the petition. “We cannot fit the refugees.”
A Turkish catamaran
was also transporting refugees from Chios, another Greek island near
Lesbos, on Monday morning Officials had not confirmed how many people
were on board.
“The procedure was
very calm, everything was orderly,” Frontex spokeswoman Ewa Moncure
told reporters at Lesbos harbour.
However, a small
group of activists protested outside the port chanting “Shame on
you!” Volunteer rescuers protesting at sea lifted a banner above
their vessel which read: “Ferries for safe passage, not for
deportation.”
Earlier, buses
carrying hundreds of refugees bound for deportation arrived at the
ports of Lesbos and Chios. On Lesbos, crews were earlier seen loading
supplies onto the ships - a small ferry and a catamaran.
The Turkish interior
minister, Efkan Ala has, said his country is ready to receive 500
refugees on Monday and Greek authorities have provided 400 names,
although these numbers could change.
The expulsion is
part of a controversial EU deal to send refugees back across the
Aegean Sea. The policy has been criticised by rights groups on
ethical grounds.
The European Union
signed the controversial deal with Turkey in March as it wrestles
with the continent’s worst migration crisis since the second world
war, with more than one million people arriving last year.
Under the agreement,
designed to halt new arrivals along the most popular route through
Turkey, all “irregular migrants” arriving since 20 March face
being sent back. Each case is meant to be examined individually.
For every Syrian
refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from
Turkey to the EU, with numbers capped at 72,000.
Police sources on
Lesbos on Sunday said there had been a flurry of last-minute asylum
applications amongst the 3,300 migrants there.
“We … have over
two thousand people that have stated their wish to seek asylum and we
need to see a credible process go ahead with the Greek asylum service
for those that wish to express their protection concerns,” said
Boris Cheshirkov, the UN refugee agency spokesman on Lesbos.
Refugees could also
be sent back from other islands that have seen a large influx, such
as Chios, where members of EU border agency Frontex were seen
arriving Sunday.
More than 52,000
men, women and children are now stranded in Greece, including 3,300
on Lesbos, following the decisions of Balkan countries to close their
borders.
Greek officials have
been tight-lipped over who and how many refugees will cross the
Aegean Sea back to Turkey.
But state news
agency ANA reported that some 250 people from Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and African nations would be sent back daily between Monday
and Wednesday.
Yiorgos Kyritsis,
spokesman for Greece’s refugee coordination unit, insisted Monday’s
operation only “involves people who have not requested asylum”.
Rights groups have
criticised the deal, questioning whether it is legal and ethical.
“We don’t know
what is going to actually happen,” senior UN migration official
Peter Sutherland said this weekend.
“But if there is
any question of collective deportations without individuals being
given the right to claim asylum, that is illegal.”
Many refugees on the
islands have complained of not being given sufficient time and access
to the asylum procedure.
Anas al-Bakhr, a
Syrian engineer from Homs who is among those stuck on Chios island,
said police marked his arrival date as March 20 - when the deal
entered force - even though he arrived the day before.
“They said the
computers were broken that day,” he said.
Agence France-Presse
and Reuters contributed to this report
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