(AFP) Hundreds of refugees protested against Greece’s tough migration policies in Athens on Saturday, accusing the conservative government of “murdering” asylum seekers through illegal pushbacks. “Stop pushbacks, down with the government of murderers,” read one of the banners at the rally in […]
(AP) Less than a week after a deadly migrant shipwreck off Italy, five European Union countries on the Mediterranean Sea pushed back Saturday against their northern neighbors for not accepting asylum-seekers under a voluntary relocation initiative. The ministers responsible for migration policy […]
(AFP) Fifteen EU states on the migration front line on Friday called for stronger borders and agreements to be struck with third-party countries to accept migrants. “It is worthwhile exploring the possibility of, and where relevant legally enabling, safe third-country arrangements with […]
(AP) Greece’s migration minister says the number of migrants arriving in Greece has dropped dramatically over the past two years, while the number of asylum-seekers living in the country has also fallen. Speaking Tuesday at an event marking the third anniversary of […]
(AP) Turkey and Greece on Monday exchanged more mutual recrimination over 92 migrants who were found stripped naked by Greek authorities at the two countries’ joint border, a day after the United Nations called for an investigation into the incident. Greek migration […]
(AP) Turkish officials on Sunday shot back at Greek allegations that Turkey forced 92 naked migrants into Greece, calling it “fake news” and accusing Greece of the mistreatment. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi was “sharing false information” after the official tweeted a […]
(AP) Greek authorities on Saturday accused Turkey of forcing 92 migrants to cross into Greece and stripping them naked before doing so. Greek police said that police officers found the migrants stark naked on Friday, “some with bodily injuries” who had entered […]
(AP) Several Mediterranean nations said Saturday the European Union’s border agency Frontex needs to work inside third countries to stop smugglers from endangering the lives of migrants by sending them off to Europe on risky boat trips. Top officials from Spain, Greece, […]
(Kathimerini) Greece on Wednesday published a video that appears to show officers of the Turkish Coast Guard hitting migrants and pushing their rubber boat away from the former’s vessel. Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis, who posted the video on his Twitter account, said […]
(AP) Greece on Monday urged the European Union to lift movement restrictions for refugees recognized by individual nations, accusing the bloc of applying a double standard when dealing with Ukrainians fleeing the war compared with the victims of other conflicts. Notis Mitarachi, […]
(Kathimerini) Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter of response to Channel 4 and Der Spiegel regarding the reports they published about the 38 migrants stranded on an islet in the Evros River on Greece’s border with Turkey. Greece, he noted, has […]
(AFP) Greece has blocked over 150,000 undocumented migrants on its land and maritime border so far this year, the migration minister said Sunday. “The entry of 154,102 irregular migrants was averted since the start of the year. Around 50,000 attempted to invade […]
(AP) Greek authorities on Friday raised to 71 the number of migrants aboard a sailboat that reached the southern island of Kythera a day earlier, the third crammed vessel to do so in two days. The boat, a sailing catamaran, was located […]
(AFP) Police and migrants faced off Thursday as Greek authorities started evacuating one of the last refugee camps in Athens, officials said, with videos showing authorities using tear gas and a flash grenade. The attempted eviction of the Eleonas camp, which hosts […]
(Kathimerini) A day after police said they found 38 migrants who had been reported stranded on an islet in the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border, Greece on Tuesday accused Turkey of pushing the migrants into Greek territory. During a visit to […]
(Reuters) The European Union’s top migration official told Greece on Thursday to stop “violent” deportations of migrants or risk losing funds. After becoming one of the main destination points during the migration crisis of 2015, Athens has hardened its policy in the […]
(AP) Five European Union nations on the Mediterranean who fear possible waves of refugees driven by hunger out of Africa called Saturday for an end to the EU’s “voluntary” solidarity on migrants and a better way to redistribute the burden of caring […]
(AP) Greek authorities say they are planning a major extension of a wall along the country’s border with Turkey and are seeking European Union financial support for the additional construction. Notis Mitarachi, the migration affairs minister, said the steel wall would be […]
(AP) The U.N. refugee agency on Monday voiced alarm at increasing reports of “horrific incidents” where asylum-seekers and migrants trying to slip into Greece and other European countries are allegedly being forced back. Athens denied the claims, and said the UNHCR appeared […]
(AP) Hundreds of people marched through central Athens on Sunday to protest what they say are Greece’s pushbacks of migrants and refugees at the border with Turkey. The marchers carried an inflatable dinghy, like those migrants use to cross the sea from […]
(AP) Ministers from European Union nations under pressure from unauthorized border crossings asked Friday for more action to protect the bloc’s external borders as well as for rules to return migrants to their homelands or where they started their journeys. Interior ministers […]
(Kathimerini) A growing number of residents on the eastern Aegean island of Chios are opposing the planned creation of a closed camp for migrants. Reactions culminated during Thursday’s public holiday, when several hundred residents gathered at the port to prevent machinery that […]
(Kathimerini) The government wants to extend the fence on the Greek-Turkish border in Evros, recent diplomatic initiatives by Greek officials in Brussels have demonstrated. Kathimerini understands that Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter to the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva […]
(Kathimerini) French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has praised the “Greek model” of migration control and vowed France’s support in bolstering border security when it assumes the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency on January 1. “We ask other southern EU countries to do […]
(AP) Greece will increase the number of border guards on the country’s border with Turkey, fearing a spike in illegal migration linked to the crisis in Afghanistan, officials said Monday. An additional 250 officers will join the 1,500-strong border force over several […]
(AFP) A major fire that broke out Sunday evening at the Vathy migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos was brought under control, the Greek Ministry of Migration said. “There is no danger for those who are still there because the […]
(Politico) Fifteen minutes outside the town of Vathy stands a just-completed compound, surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence. The entrance, only open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., is equipped with turnstiles, magnetic gates and X-ray machines. Guards check both ID cards […]
(Politico) In Greece, officials are swiftly erecting patrol units and surveillance systems to intercept any Afghans crossing into the EU — and they say the EU should help foot the bill. Officials back in Brussels have refused, insisting any payments must be […]
(AFP) One year after fire ripped through the notorious Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, the authorities say they’ve tackled the critical overcrowding and brought order to the chaos. Critics counter they achieved this through a policy of forcibly […]
(AP) From above, the new border wall separating Turkey from Iran looks like a white snake winding through the barren hills. So far it only covers a third of the 540-kilometer (335-mile) border, leaving plenty of gaps for migrants to slip across […]
(AP) The European Union should assist Afghans in Afghanistan and in neighboring countries to avoid a new migration wave, Turkey’s president told Greece’s prime minister in a telephone call Friday. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed developments in Afghanistan in […]
(Reuters) Greece does not want to become the entry point into the European Union for Afghans fleeing the escalating conflict in their homeland, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Tuesday, calling for a common EU response to the crisis. Greece was on […]
(Politico) For Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban takeover of their country, Europe had — at best — mixed messages to offer. As the evacuation from Kabul airport grew increasingly chaotic Monday, with footage emerging of Afghans attempting to cling to a departing […]
(Reuters) The EU’s border agency is trialling new high-tech surveillance equipment to detect migrant boats, just as rapid gains by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have raised the prospect of a surge in people fleeing to Europe. A balloon system equipped with cameras […]
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(AFP) Tchinda said the longed-for destination of his risky Aegean crossing — the island of Kos — was already tantalisingly in view when Greek vessels halted the boat he was sailing in along with 30 other migrants. “First a navy ship blocked […]
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(AP) Almost 9 months after a fire gutted a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, work on a new reception center has still not begun despite pledges to have the facility built before next winter, Greece’s migration minister confirmed Wednesday. […]
(AP) Greece on Monday designated neighboring Turkey as a safe country in which to seek international protection for the majority of asylum-seekers departing its shores for Greece. A joint decree from the Greek foreign and migration ministries said the designation applies to […]
(AP) Greece is reporting a series of brushes with Turkey’s coast guard in the narrow stretch of water between the eastern Greek island of Lesbos and the Turkish coast, at a time of generally testy relations between the two neighbors and NATO […]
(AFP) On the Greek island of Lesbos, the notorious camp of Moria still casts a long shadow, more than six months after it went up in flames. And after six years of being on the frontline of migratory pressure from nearby Turkey, […]
(AP) The European Union’s home affairs commissioner was meeting Tuesday with Greece’s prime minister and foreign minister, a day after touring two of the eastern islands in the Aegean Sea most heavily affected by migration into Europe. The EU is currently working […]
(AFP) The European Union said on Monday that Turkey must “urgently” resume accepting migrants from Greece, where thousands are being held in camps, days before EU chiefs are to visit Ankara. Greece, which has also been seeking support from EU allies in […]
(Reuters) Greece “can do more” to investigate reports it has pushed asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a senior European Union official said on Monday, as Greek authorities pledged a new migrant reception centre on the island of Lesbos would open in time for […]
(AP) The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe are meeting in Greece to discuss the European Union’s policies as the bloc works toward a new migration pact. Ministers from Italy, Spain, Malta, […]
(Kathimerini) A total of 116 refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, including 30 families with children, departed from the island of Lesvos on a charter flight to Hannover in Germany on Wednesday morning. It was the first direct flight from an Aegean […]
(AFP) There was an “unprecedented escalation” of human rights violations against migrants in the Aegean Sea last year, a campaign group said Friday, accusing Greece and the EU’s border patrol agency Frontex of being behind a soaring number of illegal returns to […]
(Kathimerini) Greece has submitted a request to the European Commission and the EU’s border agency Frontex, for the immediate return of 1,450 migrants whose asylum requests have been rejected, the country’s Migration Ministry announced on Thursday. From the 1,450 individuals that entered […]
(AP) Portugal started consultations Tuesday with other European Union countries to find common ground for a new policy on migration, which has caused humanitarian crises and deep political divisions in the bloc over how to respond. Portugal, which holds the EU’s rotating […]
(Reuters) Greece urged Turkey on Tuesday to do more to thwart irregular crossings of migrants into its territory, saying recent arrivals, particularly from Somalia, appeared to be coordinated. More than half of arrivals on the Greek island of Lesbos from Nov. 1 […]
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