The BBC’s Danny Savage reports from the Greece-Macedonia border – where thousands of refugees and migrants are stranded.
Advertisement
In a key step, Turkey has in recent months stiffened visa rules for Syrian, Iraq and other nationals, making it much harder for them to travel to Turkey via third countries.
Tusk who is to leave immediately for Turkey also said that EU-Turkey joint action plan remains a priority that must be successful.
Tusk will stay on for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan and is scheduled to meet with Davutoglu again next Monday at an emergency EU-Turkey summit dedicated to the issue of refugees.
“I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe”, Tusk told a press conference in Athens after talks on the refugee crisis with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Mr. Davutoglu is scheduled to meet with Mr. Tsipras next Tuesday.
In Ankara later, Tusk sought to encourage Turkey to take further action to sharply cut the number of migrants and refugees taking to unseaworthy boats to cross the Aegean to the Greek islands.
Sending refugees back would break smugglers’ business model, he also said. Additionally, some 2,000 people are entering the country each day. Police say only a few hundred have crossed north into Macedonia.
Greece would make every effort to apply worldwide treaties, he said.
Spokesman Miran Sadl says authorities are investigating “where these statuettes came from and who might have conducted a criminal act”.
“The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais”, he said. “Restoring borders between two Schengen countries will destroy the common market”, he said.
Tsipras requested all European countries share the burden through the relocation program, calling for closer collaboration with Turkey to stem the refugee flows. “Should we see no success by then we will not hesitate to create requirements so that border controls in Europe can be extended”, he said.
Several nations within the bloc, including Denmark and Germany, have launched temporary border controls to restrain the inflow of migrants. One man fainted after he was turned back. “Half of my family had the same stamps in their passports, but they let them in”. “I’m not moving from here”.
“Unfortunately, we can not fight the police”, said Nureen, a Sudanese migrant.
More than a million people arrived in Europe by sea past year and the flow is continuing. Most other refugees, including Iraqis, Afghans, and Iranians, have even less legal protection in Turkey.
“We agreed that the refugee flows still remain far too high and that further action is needed”.
Officials said Mr Tusk would be stressing in Athens and Ankara on Thursday that the goal was to eliminate entirely the transit of migrants from Turkey to Greece and that Europeans believed Turkey should be able to bring the numbers down to the “low triple digits” very soon. Do not risk your lives and your money.
Advertisement
“It is all for nothing”, he said.
