HarekAct offers a topical and chronological collection of news on the EU-Turkish border regime under this section. We link to external newspapers and websites and do not hold the copyright.
Views and opinions expressed in the articles published on HarekAct are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of all editorial board members.
Via New York Times – Patrick Kingsley reports on the State of Emergency in Turkey and how people are dealing with hard times in a nation strained by war, terrorist insurgencies, a refugee crisis and a widening crackdown on dissent. This article is about two Syrians: a former smuggler and a child-labourer.
Read the full article here.
Via Era-Aegean (Translated from Greek) – On Monday evening, the Greek coast guards were engaged in an operation to search and rescue three refugees who allegedly tried to swim from the Turkish shores to the island of Chios. The rescue operation took place close to the island Paspargos and Karfas. A helicopter was involved but the rescue operation remained without success. The three people could not be found.
The Greek authorities informed the Turkish Coast Guards regarding the three refugees, so that the latter proceeds to similar operations in the Turkish territorial waters.
via Keep talking Greece – More migrants and refugees crossed to Turkey: In last five days, a total of 566 people arrived to the Greek islands on boat coming from Turkey. Most of them arrived on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos.
Read the full article here.
Deutschlandfunk (Link in German) – More refugees than usual arrived on the islands in the Eastern Aegean during the last two days.
According to authorities in charge 360 people crossed from the Turkish mainland to the Greek islands.
Read the German article here.
Yahoo – Bulgaria said Saturday it was ready to boost patrols and finish a fence along its southeastern frontier with Turkey in an effort to hold off any new influx of migrants. The pledge comes as Turkey is in separate rows with Bulgaria and the EU, raising worries Ankara could allow a rush of asylum seekers across the border.
Read the full article here.
Zeit Online (link in German) – Turkey is partly putting the refugee agreement with the EU on hold. On Wednesday, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said towards the TV-channel 24TV that no refugees are being admitted back from the Greek islands at the moment. At the same time, he threatened with a complete revocation of the deal.
Read the full article here.
Are you Syrious – Turkey has partially suspended the refugee agreement with the EU. At present, no refugees are withdrawn from the Greek islands, said the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu today. The main reason for this, according to him, is the lack of visa-free travel for the Turks in the EU, interpreting that as the Union’s not respecting of their side of the deal. There are a lot of doubts about these potential “threats” from the Turkish side.
According to the latest official statistics, 110 people have been returned to Turkey from the Aegean islands in 2017. In spite of the decision for Turkey to “ re-evaluate” the land-passage aspects of the EU- Turkey deal, he also said that Turkey would not reopen its Aegean border.
Read the full article here.
The New York Times on Turkey’s threats to review the EU-Turkey Deal again.
“We will review the migrant deal if necessary,” Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey’s deputy prime minister, warned on Monday night. In Europe, the announcement prompted fears of a repeat of the 2015 migration surges that saw 850,000 people leave Turkey for Greece in a single year. “I expect waves of people,” he said in a video call on Tuesday night. “The business will come back to the way it was, and maybe better.”
via Handelsblatt (Link in German) – 84 people were rescued on Thursday night by the Greek coastguard and a cargo vessel off the Peloponnese peninsula. They were in distress at sea, so they had to call the Greek Coast Guards.
Read the full article here.