According to Anadolu Ajansi* the Turkish Coast Guard and Gendarmerie captured 321 people that were attempting to cross into Europe by boat:
“Turkish Coast Guard and gendarmarie sources said 321 refugees were captured as they were trying to illegally travel to European countries on Tuesday… Continue reading Turkey foils illegal crossing attempts into Europe
Via The News York Times – The mayor of Lesbos has accused Turkey of failing to honour its end of the €3 billion EU deal to stem the flow of migrants into Europe.
Spyros Galinos says that an increase in arrivals on the Greek island after a 16-month lull that followed the signing of the deal, shows that Turkey is reneging on its obligations to police the people-smuggling industry. More than a million people travelled from its shores to Greece in 2015 and last year. Continue reading Turkey accused of breaking EU migration deal
Via Keep Talking Greece – Does President Recep Tayyip Erdogan let the EU-Turkey deal on migration go burst? A significant increase in the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey has been recorded in the last six days. A total of 1,196 people arrived in the Greek islands of northern and eastern Aegean Sea in the time Friday, August 18th – Wednesday, August 23rd 2017.
Continue reading 1,190 new refugees arrive in 5 days. Does Erdogan let EU-Turkey deal go burst?
Sea Watch and the Hope Project Lesvos document another violent pushback case in the Aegean. This time carried out by the Turkish Coast Guards:
https://www.facebook.com/seawatchprojekt/videos/1913840762167329/
Continue reading Turkish Coast Guard attacked refugee boat in Aegean
Short film on deportations under the EU-Turkey Deal by Joinda Productions, a film collective of three brothers from Afghanistan who arrived in Greece a year ago from Turkey in a rubber dinghy!
In Afghanistan, the three brothers had been prosecuted for their artistic work: making political films. Trapped on the Greek island Lesvos in the barbed wired camp Moria for a year, the three Afghan television artists continue their political work. Continue reading “Send to their death” – on deportations under the EU-Turkey Deal
‘End Immigration Detention For Children‘ published a very insightful article on the fate or refugee children in the midst of the EU-Turkey Deal. In particular, the article deals with the situation of Pakistanis minors who reached the island of Lesvos.
What is certain is that these boys waited, alongside other children and adults, inside the detention center for many weeks or even months amidst appalling conditions, limited access to medical attention and information, violent outbursts, and food shortages. Many of them continue to wait in shelters or in other unstable and impermanent housing arrangements throughout the country. All of these boys remained far from home, but even further away from the better lives that they set out looking for.
Continue reading Children On the Move in the Midst of the EU-Turkey Deal
The No Border Kitchen Lesvos supports around 350 refugees in Lesvos to cook and subsist autonomously. Now they are asking for financial support to keep up their vital work!
Continue reading No Border Kitchen Lesvos is asking for donations!
The EU claims refugee flows from Turkey to Greece have slowed, so it is cutting funding to aid agencies and paying the Greek government to take over services there instead.
Via AlJazeera – It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the media switches off. Only last year, journalists were winning awards for watching refugees drown. Last week, seven people died just off the Turkish coast and it hardly got a mention. Continue reading Refugee aid dries up in Greece as media interest wanes
MSF published a report on the psychological and physiological health conditions of asylum seekers in Lesvos:
“Our medical teams treating asylum seeking men, women and children in Lesbos wish to ring the alarm bell as to the further deterioration of the care and protection afforded to vulnerable people. In Lesbos, as in much of Greece, vulnerable people’s health and well-being are being put at risk by a grossly deficient vulnerability screening system and policies aimed at returning as many people as possible to Turkey.”
The organization Sea-Watch, who were one of the first humanitarian NGO’s to start rescue operations in front of the Libyan coast and have been active in the Aegean sea with rescue assets too, now started a new monitoring project in the Aegean. See more in the video