Aftermath of war

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 100 asylum seekers off the Aegean Sea coast of Çanakkale town, security sources said on June 6.

The asylum seekers of different nationalities wanted to cross to Mytilene Island of Greece.

The European Commission on June 3 proposes to release a payment of €485 million ($545 million) for Turkey to support Syrian refugees in 2020.

The institution presented a budget amendment on June 3 suggesting "to top up support for refugees and host communities in response to the Syria crisis by a total of €585 million."

The Migration Ministry said Friday that it had "no knowledge" of a report by an international organization castigating its policy on and handling of migration, responding to a news story published in Kathimerini, though it failed to respond to the issues raised in the document.

Greece's Migration Ministry said on Friday it had "no knowledge" of a report by an international organization castigating its policy on and handling of migration, responding to a news story published in Kathimerini.

It said the same applied to the UΝ refugee agency (UNHCR), and the International Organisation for migration (IOM).

Turkey has successfully passed the "migration" test by hosting millions of refugees on its soils for years, while even the most developed nations have failed in doing so, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said at an online opening of the International Migration Films Festival.

About 11,000 recognised refugees are facing an uncertain future as they will gradually have to leave their current accommodation facilities starting in June, as part of the Migration Policy Ministry's plan to replace them with asylum seekers from the islands, in a bid to decongest the local camps.

It is a crisis waiting to happen: About 11,000 refugees who have been granted asylum in Greece are still housed in reception facilities.

If they are made to leave their accommodation, the majority of them will end up in the streets.

A person wears a protective face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as refugees and migrants from overcrowded migrant camps who will be transferred to Britain where they will reunite with their families, board their flight at Athens International Airport, Monday. [Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters]

Some spoke of dire conditions in the centre and the growth of gangs stealing from and assaulting other residents.

Others, migrants trying to reach Western Europe, said they had been left out in the cold despite seeking refuge at the centre, its doors closed under a lockdown across the country to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

Switzerland has agreed to take in 22 unaccompanied migrant children from Greece, it was announced Thursday following a telephone conversation between Alternate Minister of Migration and Asylum Giorgos Koumoutsakos and his Swiss counterpart Mario Gattiker.
Switzerland said it will also contribute 1.1 million Swiss francs to support Greece in managing the migrant/refugee crisis.