Immigration to Europe

The Greek government dismissed on Wednesday a report in The New York Times newspaper that it was holding illegal migrants who cross the border from Turkey at a secret "black site" where they are denied access to lawyers and cannot file asylum claims.

Turkish gendarmerie forces held 713 irregular migrants in the northwestern Edirne province, bordering Greece, on Dec. 27.

Among the migrants were the nationals of Nepal, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Algeria.

The migrants were sent to the provincial migration office for legal procedures.

Some 90,000-95,000 irregular migrants will have been sent back to their countries by end of 2019, says interior minister

The Greek parliament has passed a controversial new asylum law early on Nov. 1 aiming to control the number of migrants entering the country.

Of the 512 million people living in the EU in 2018, 7.8% are with nationality different from their than their country of residence: 3.4% are with nationality from another EU Member State and 4.4% are from non-EU country. These shares vary from one Member State to another.

At least 48 irregular migrants were held across Turkey, security sources said on Feb. 24.

The number of pending Turkish asylum applications to EU countries has exceeded 17,000 following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, hitting a record high for the country since the 1980 military coup.

Five people, including three children, died after a boat carrying 15 migrants sank off the coast of western Turkey on Monday, the Turkish coast guard said.

It said five others were missing and a search was underway.

A group of illegal migrants intercepted near the Turkish-Bulgarian border yesterday claimed Bulgarian police beat them, stole their possessions and sent them back to the Turkey, reports Daily Sabah. 

At least 17 irregular migrants have been rescued in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's southwestern coast, said security sources on Oct .27.