ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday called on Turkey to “take responsibility” for a renewed wave of migrants to Greece, and for an EU-Turkish deal to be revised so Athens can speed up the return of rejected asylum-seekers.
“Turkey must take responsibility” and “control the migrant flow in the Aegean Sea,” the conservative Greek leader said during a debate in parliament on migration.
Greece has felt under increasing pressure. For the first time since 2016, the country has become the main port of entry into the European Union for migrants and refugees arriving via Turkish shores.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that arrivals by sea from Turkey to Greece, mostly Afghan and Syrian families, increased to 10,258 in September.
It said this was the highest monthly total since 2016, when the European Union reached an accord with Turkey to stem the flow of arrivals.
Turkey has welcomed nearly 3.6 million refugees, the vast majority from neighboring war-ravaged Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened in early September to allow a new wave of migrants to go to the EU if he did not receive more international aid.
Ankara wants to create in Syria a “security zone” so migrants could return there.
But after a deadly fire at an overcrowded refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on Sept. 29, Athens vowed to return 10,000 migrants who fail asylum requirements to Turkey by the end of 2020.
In four and a half years under the previous left-wing government, Turkey took back fewer than 2,000 people.
Necessary revisions to the EU-Turkey deal to accelerate returns will be discussed at the EU summit later this month.
Mitsotakis insists that most new arrivals to Greece are “economic migrants” from Afghanistan or sub-Saharan Africa rather than refugees from Syria.
Turkey must ‘take responsibility’ for migrants, says Greece
Turkey must ‘take responsibility’ for migrants, says Greece
- Turkey must ‘control the migrant flow in the Aegean Sea,’ the conservative Greek leader said
- The UNHCR announced arrivals by sea from Turkey to Greece increased to over 10,000 in September
US border agent shoots and wounds two people in Portland
- The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement
A US immigration agent shot and wounded a man and a woman in Portland, Oregon, authorities said on Thursday, leading local officials to call for calm given public outrage over the ICE shooting death of a Minnesota woman a day earlier.
“We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more,” Portland police chief Bob Day said in a statement.
The Portland shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon as US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The statement said the driver, a suspected Venezuelan gang member, attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle and run over the agents. In response, DHS said, “an agent fired a defensive shot” and the driver and a passenger drove away.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the circumstances of the incident.
Portland police said that the shooting took place near a medical clinic in eastern Portland. Six minutes after arriving at the scene and determining federal agents were involved in the shooting, police were informed that two people with gunshot wounds — a man and a woman — were asking for help at a location about 2 miles (3 km) to the northeast of the medical clinic.
Police said they applied tourniquets to the man and woman, who were taken to a hospital. Their condition was unknown.
The shooting came just a day after a federal agent from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a separate agency within the Department of Homeland Security, fatally shot a 37-year-old mother of three in her car in Minneapolis.
That shooting has prompted two days of protests in Minneapolis. Officers from both ICE and Border Patrol have been deployed in cities across the United States as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
While the aggressive enforcement operations have been cheered by the president’s supporters, Democrats and civil rights activists have decried the posture as an unnecessary provocation.
US officials contend criminal suspects and anti-Trump activists have increasingly used their cars as weapons, though video evidence has sometimes contradicted their claims.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement his city was now grappling with violence at the hands of federal agents and that “we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts.”
He called on ICE to halt all its operations in the city until an investigation can be completed.
“Federal militarization undermines effective, community-based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region,” Wilson said. “I will use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
