Turkey opens borders allowing migrants to cross into the EU

On February 28, Turkey said that it would let migrants cross its borders into Europe, reneging on a commitment to hold them on its territory under a 2016 deal with the European Union.

According to data, since February 29, Greece has repulsed nearly 35,000 migrants trying to cross onto its territory illegally. Border guards rebuffed nearly 7,000 attempts in the last 24 hours alone, with the number of arrests of those who got through already at 244. Greece is preparing to deport hundreds of others who made it through.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said late on Wednesday that migrants who arrived in Greece illegally after March 1 will be transferred to the northern city of Serres and deported back to their own countries.  He told the Athens News Agency that, “our aim is to return them to their countries.”

Athens announced on March 1 that it would not accept any new asylum applications for a month following the build-up of migrants at the border.

Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million refugees from the Syrian civil war said it cannot take in anymore and opened its border with EU members Greece and Bulgaria after a renewed upsurge of fighting in Syria’s Idlib province.

Greece and the EU accused Turkey of deliberately goading the migrants to cross the border as a way of pressuring Brussels into offering more money or supporting Ankara’s geopolitical aims in the Syrian conflict.

Croatia said this week it was considering deploying troops along its hilly, heavily forested border with Bosnia, which is one of the EU’s longest external frontiers.

The United Nations’ migration agency IOM said if the migrants, heading for the EU, could get past Greece then up to 10,000 migrants daily could start arriving in Bosnia, a number the impoverished country would struggle to handle.

 Bosnia currently houses some 5,000 migrants in eight overcrowded camps run by the IOM. Some 2,000 others are believed to be staying in rented rooms or abandoned houses.

Aid workers expressed concern about increased pressure on food and medical supplies in Bosnia’s camps, where men, women and children sleep in rickety bunk beds in cramped, often windowless rooms.

SOURCE (REUTERS)