After a sharp decline, the number of migrants coming from Turkey to Greece is picking up again
REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Migrants in boats are landing in Greece at the rate of about 150 a day from Turkey after a hiatus, indicating that the "hermetic sealing" of this route to Europe appears to be over, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
More than 1.1 million refugees and migrants reached the EU last year, mostly via Greece from Turkey. But daily arrivals have fallen sharply since the Ankara-Brussels deal.
"Arrivals in Greece which were down to literally zero some days this month are beginning to creep back up. The last three days, we've had over 150 people arriving each day, which compared to a month ago is minuscule, but compared to many days this past month with arrivals in single figures or even nobody, that it does show that route may be picking back up," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a Geneva news briefing.
In March the EU and Turkey struck a controversial migration deal to stem the flow of refugees and migrants across the Aegean sea to Greece. It was enacted earlier in April, despite criticism from rights groups.
"It could be that there's just a lot of demand still in Turkey from various countries, people have already spent months to get to Turkey and you know, where there's a will and where there are means people will try to satisfy them so... That would be my only feeling, but it still shows that hermetic sealing that seemed to be happening a month ago isn't anymore," he said, adding that it could also be that smugglers were getting more creative, or that it could be due to the weather getting better after winter months.
Under the deal, Ankara gets more EU funding for refugees living on its soil, revival of long-stalled EU accession talks and quicker visa liberalisation.
In exchange, Turkey is due to prevent migrants and refugees from departing from its shores for Europe via illegal routes and take back all who reach the 28-nation bloc that way.