So far the country has taken in only hundreds of Syrian refugees.
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Passage through those countries began being restricted last month. Parents covered their children with whatever they could find, sometimes resorting to plastic bags.
Five migrants, including a baby, hoping to reach Europe via Greece drowned when their speedboat capsized off the Turkish coast, Dogan News Agency said on Thursday.
In Greece, more than 13,000 people were stranded, according to state agency ANA.
On Thursday, Nuland visited an overcrowded tent city on Greece’s northern border with Macedonia, where about 14,000 refugees heading for central Europe are living in dire circumstances. And more people fleeing war and poverty keep streaming out of the Middle East and elsewhere.
There is intense anger that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, bypassed her 27 counterparts and Donald Tusk, the tough Polish president of the Council, to draw up the deal with Ankara before it was presented to leaders on Monday.
Turkey’s coast guard has intercepted dozens of mostly Syrian refugees in coves along the Aegean coast as they continued to attempt perilous sea crossings to Greece.
Even before the border closures, the tightening of restrictions through the Balkans had created a bottleneck in Greece, the main entry point for migrants into the European Union across the sea from Turkey. Still technically in Macedonia, they can see the Serbian border police patrol about 50 yards (meters) away.
For now, he plans to remain put in the sodden field by the railway tracks in Idomeni. “We ask a clear commitment for relocation and resettlement from the member states”, said Yannis Mouzalas, the Greek interior minister.
“I will wait for the border to open”, he said. So sometimes they only stayed a few hours before going on to the next border.
“You don’t resolve the problem by taking a unilateral decision”, Merkel told public radio MDR, after western Balkan countries barred entry to transiting migrants from midnight Wednesday.
Mohammed said his wife and both of his children had fallen sick.
Loud coughing echoed through the makeshift camp Friday as refugees lined up for hot soup, many trembling, and some without shoes or warm jackets. “The situation is very, very bad”. On Dec. 16, 2015, the British premier announced that the government had met its commitment to resettle 1,000 Syrians in the United Kingdom before the end of the year. “Most of their family is there so they’re joining them”, he said.
For others, the conditions were just too much to bear, and about 200 people boarded buses bound south for refugee camps in and around Athens or other parts of Greece.
“The refugees say, ‘Don’t take us a step back; take us a step forward, ‘” Arif said.
European Union leaders hope to finalize the deal at a summit on March 17-18.
The minister said that Turkey aims to build high-standard temporary shelters to house economic migrants who are returned to Turkey but do not qualify for refugee status in the country.
The one-for-one deal drew criticism from human rights defenders.
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Those who did reach Greece faced an uncertain future. Most were from Pakistan and north Africa. “We actually don’t think that’s positive for either side”. “It’s not suitable for animal”, he pleaded. “We escaped from the death”.
