Aegean islands

In an effort to mitigate the reactions by local communities to a government plan to expropriate land on the islands of the North Aegean and build new detention centres for migrants and refugees, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis sent a letter to island mayors asking them to list damages to property caused to migration to receive compensation.

Turkish fighter jets carried out a fresh round of overflights over the Aegean on Wednesday morning.
In particular, at 10.03 a.m. a pair of F-16s flew over the southeastern island of Farmakonisi at 23,000 feet.
The aircraft conducted another overflight at 10.08 a.m. over Lipsoi at 8,500 feet and, four minutes later, over Agathonisi at an even lower altitude of 7,000 feet.

Amidst a barrage of criticism over its lack of a comprehensive plan for dealing with the refugee migrant crisis, government spokesman Stelios Petsas maintained that there has been progress in correcting the deficiencies in SYRIZA's management of the crisis.

The Catholic Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Lesvos will celebrate St. Valentine's Day with two high mass liturgies on Thursday and Friday, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported Tuesday.

The Assumption church is one of the numerous churches that claim to keep relics of Saint Valentine.

The council of the North Aegean Region on Tuesday voted to take legal action against a legislative act announced by the government to expropriate land and properties on five islands for the creation of detention centers for asylum seekers.

The council also agreed to suspend all cooperation with the government until it repeals the  legislative act that will enforce the measures.

The company undertaking the project to link the Saronic island of Aegina to the network of the Athens Water Company (EYDAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Port Authority of Salamina, off Piraeus, after pipes that were supposed to be used to build the 14-kilometer pipeline were damaged by unknown assailants.

Greece has announced that it will begin building closed camps for migrants on its Aegean islands in March and plans to send 200 asylum seekers back to Turkey each week.

Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis on Tuesday said that a meeting scheduled later this week with the mayors of the northern and eastern Aegean islands that are slated to acquire closed pre-deportation migrant centers has been cancelled amid reactions from local authorities.

Between September 2019 and January 2020, the government transferred 14,750 people to the mainland, even as 36,000 new arrivals crossed the Aegean to Greece from Turkey, according to UNHCR data.

The long-awaited creation of closed centers for asylum seekers on five northeastern Aegean islands was announced on Monday by government spokesman Stelios Petsas, who stressed that a legislative act will be issued to allow for the acquisition of properties, land and sites by expropriation.