In May and June of 2016, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) carried out a survey in Turkey for people from Syria and other third countries who were seeking international protection. The need for the survey arose from the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, an agreement implemented on March 20 of that year. A major…
THE SHELTER OFFERED to Amira since she got to Europe amounts to a plastic sheet she has slept under for the past ten days. The Syrian mother of three was taken to Vathy, a camp on the Greek island of Samos where nearly 3,000 people are spilling out of a facility built for 700. She…
WIDAD MADRATI REMEMBERS the first snowfall at Oreokastro like most children would, as a thing of wonder. It threw a brilliant white cover over the squalor of a refugee camp pitched in the grounds of a disused warehouse in the hills above Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki. The 17-year-old Syrian did not mind that the water…
Europäische Beamte werden zunehmend besorgt darüber, dass der EU-Türkei Deal auseinander fallen könnte. Mit wenigen Rückführungen und Tausenden gefangen auf den griechischen Inseln regt die EU stärkere Maßnahmen an – wie etwa mehr Auffanglager auf den Inseln, um Asylverfahren zu beschleunigen und Abschiebungen zu erleichtern – um den Deal zu retten. Im Dezember vergangenen Jahres…
European officials are becoming increasingly worried that the E.U.-Turkey deal could fall apart. With few returns and thousands of people trapped on the Greek islands, the E.U. is encouraging stronger measures – such as opening more detention centers on the islands to speed up asylum proceedings and facilitate deportations – to rescue the deal. In…
Last month, 10 Syrians boarded a flight organized and staffed by the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, on the Greek island of Kos, believing their destination was Athens. Instead, they landed in the Turkish city of Adana. The Syrians had wanted to seek international protection in Greece, and carried documents indicating their intention to initiate…
Electoral failures of the Cristian Democratic Party (CDU) and Merkel in Germany have been credited extensively to her refugee policy. Equally, the Bratislava and Vienna summits have pushed again the refugee crisis on the forefront of EU diplomatic brinkmanship. In this context, Greece is set to be affected, yet again, more than any other…
ATHENS, Jun 9 2016 – Closure of the Western Balkans route has trapped tens of thousands of refugees heading to Central and Northern Europe in Greece, including many unaccompanied minors who either escaped from war zones after having lost their relatives, or were sent ahead in hopes of helping their families follow afterwards. While the…
Today had been declared the first day that migrants and refugees would be deported from Greece within the framework of the EU-Turkey deal, and European authorities seemed determined not to miss the date. So as of Sunday, Greek police, along with the EU border agency Frontex, organised a large-scale operation to ensure the smooth handling…
German chancellor Angela Merkel has trumpeted the agreement to return Syrian refugees to Turkey from Greece as a “European solution.” But with no real accord across the 28 member states, terms and conditions that will be difficult to put into practice and continuing arrivals to Greece, is it truly a breakthrough? Turkey and the European…
Apostolis Fotiadis 