250 police officers raided eight different places in the region around Ayvacik, in south-western Turkey, from which people try to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.
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Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians were among those arrested in the forests and small beaches targeted, according to Turkish press agencies reported.
Four suspected smugglers were also detained in the sweep while four migrant boats and six boat motors were seized.
Most refugees, half of whom are from war-torn Syria, reach Europe by sea from Turkey to Greece, a unsafe journey that has claimed many lives this year.
He continued, “But absence of a reference to human rights in the EU-Turkey summit joint statement yesterday and recent remarks from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that the EU should not “harp” on Turkey’s rights record do not bode well”.
“Under the deal, Turkey will receive 3 billion euros in much-needed funds to assist Syrian refugees, as well as visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in most European Union countries”, Ward wrote, adding that discussion of Turkey’s European Union membership may be revived.
The EU has identified cooperation with Turkey as the key to tackling the crisis and on Sunday sealed a multi-billion-euro deal with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to do so, as The World Weekly examines.
The refugees and migrants detained were from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
“The monthly figure for November is the first one this year that actually shows a decrease compared to the previous one”, William Spindler of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a news briefing.
“It is clear that the dispatches from the other side have started again”, the regional governor for the Northern Aegean, Christina Kalogirou, was quoted as saying by Kathimerini newspaper. The EU is also discussing plans for resettling hundreds of thousands of refugees from Turkey in the future.
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Referring to the people stranded on the Greece-Macedonia border, he said, “They are living in extremely poor conditions, with inadequate shelter”.
