Turkey evacuates 5,800 asylum seekers from Greek border Weekend visits to picnic sites, beaches banned, says interior minisiter

(Anadolu) Turkey’s interior minister on Friday said 5,800 asylum seekers near the Greek border have been evacuated as part of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

In an interview to Turkish news channel NTV, Suleyman Soylu said: “After the risk of contamination passes, we won’t say no to anyone who wants to go back to the Pazarkule border gate.”

Soylu said that those asylum seekers are being hosted in repatriation centers in nine provinces.

Thousands of asylum seekers had camped at Turkey’s border with Greece after Ankara said in late February it will no longer stop them from going to Europe, accusing the EU of not keep[ing] its part of a 2016 refugee deal.

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