The figure includes small numbers of migrants arriving in Cyprus and Spain, as well as the busier routes connecting Turkey to Greece and North Africa to Italy, the agency said in a statement. Returned Syrians are expected to be taken initially to a camp in the southern town of Osmaniye, from where those who have the means will be allowed to settle elsewhere in Turkey among an existing Syrian migrant population of 2.8 million, Turkish officials have said.
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On parts of Turkey’s Aegean coast where refugees had long gathered before attempting to cross the Aegean, the deterrent effect of the European Union deal, struck last month, is apparent.
Rights groups and some European politicians have challenged the legality of the deal, questioning whether Turkey has sufficient safeguards in place to defend refugees’ rights and whether it can be considered safe for them.
Several hundred migrants were sent from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios to Turkey on Monday, but thousands more remain pending asylum claims.
The country should have the right to refuse or allow migrants/refugees into the country without the scrutiny of the global community.
Under the European Union-Turkey agreement, those arriving on Greek islands from the Turkish coast on or after March 20 are eligible for deportation if they do not apply for asylum or their application is rejected or inadmissible.
“There will be a hard few months ahead”, she said. Officials said 300 arrived in Greece on Sunday alone, fueling complaints by the Greek government, which has accused Turkey of not doing enough to intercept the flow of illegal migrants. Two Syrians were also returned from Lesbos but Syrians had asked to be sent back themselves, according to Greek authorities.
“The returns underway this morning in the Aegean are the symbolic start of the potential disastrous undoing of Europe’s commitment to protecting refugees”, said Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik.
Human rights organizations including the UNHCR have condemned the agreement, arguing that it violates protections for refugees and that Turkey can’t guarantee the safety of the people who are being sent back.
In Lesbos, about 200 people being held in the Moria detention center staged a sit-in protest Monday.
“We are still waiting for the legal experts and translators they said they would send”, he added.
“This is all very new, very hard”, Wicher said.
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Each migrant, carrying one or two bags, was accompanied by Turkish officials to three registration tents just off the jetty. “People in despair tend to be violent”, the government’s migration spokesman, Giorgos Kyritsis, told the Observer. “We are dealing with people who speak 70 different languages and many have travelled to Greece without papers because they are escaping war”.
