On Monday, about 600 migrants were unable to cross the Aegean and enter Greece from neighboring Turkey in what was the largest migration attempt this year, the Greek Coast Guard said.
A coast guard spokesman told AFP news agency that five and four boats simultaneously sailed off the Turkish coast on Monday morning and were in Turkish waters near the Greek islands of Chios and Samos when the Greek coast guard entered. He added that “Greek patrols were able to quickly locate the boats and report this to the Turkish Coast Guard”, noting that all the boats either turned back or were intercepted by the Turkish Coast Guard. He explained that all the boats were then “in Turkish territorial waters.”
According to a source at the Greek Ministry of Migration, in the first four months of this year, “the flow of migrants to the Greek islands has increased by 30%” compared to the same period last year. More than 3,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Greece this year, including 1,100 in April, according to the ministry. The number of asylum seekers living in camps on the Aegean islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros reached over 2,300 in April. These five islands are located off the coast of Turkey and are the gateway for migrants and refugees to Europe. EU member Greece has long accused (non-member) Turkey of not taking enough action against smugglers who send migrants on wobbly boats out of Turkey in violation of a 2016 agreement between Ankara and the EU.
The conservative Greek government has tightened controls on its maritime and land borders with Turkey over the past three years with the help of the European Union’s external border control agency Frontex and has managed to limit the number of migrants arriving in Greece. But many media and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Greek authorities of illegally deporting migrants to Turkish waters or territory.
Following these allegations, the European Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees asked Athens to investigate. Athens has always denied conducting such illegal operations, and the National Transparency Authority announced in March that it found no evidence of such practices. Non-governmental organizations have also accused Frontex of carrying out illegal deportations at European borders. Its French president, Fabrice Leggerie, resigned in April following an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office into the CEO and two other members of Frontex.
