Immigration

The BBC footage shows Greek border policemen pushing asylum seekers in an extremely brutal way, shooting in the air, not giving them water, insulting them... while poor people can barely keep their balance in an overcrowded boat that is on their way to the EU coast.

Greece on June 7 announced that applications for asylum filed by individuals in Turkey will no longer be accepted. 

"Turkey is designated a safe country for asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia," said a joint decision by the Greek Foreign Ministry as well as the Migration and Asylum Ministry.

A high percentage of Europeans have negative feelings towards Muslims and immigrants, writes Weiss magazine, citing a large-scale sociological survey in eight European countries.

Five people were charged Dec. 2 in what authorities called a "birth tourism" scheme that arranged for pregnant Turkish women to give birth in New York to get more than 100 children U.S. citizenship and take advantage of public health care.

Turkey rescued 26 asylum seekers who were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean, security sources said on Aug. 15. 

They were rescued from a dinghy off the coast of Foça district in Turkey's western İzmir province, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The Turkish Coast Guard on June 13 rescued 93 asylum seekers who were pushed back by Greek forces into Turkish territorial waters, according to security sources. 

The asylum seekers of various nationalities initially set off for the Greek island of Lesbos (Midilli) from Ayvacık in Çanakkale, northwestern Turkey.

A 14-day home quarantine was lifted on June 11 for Turkish expats visiting homeland, said a top official of a Turkish state agency.

"During the summer period, we will assist our citizens abroad who are on a journey to homeland," said Abdullah Eren, head of Turkey's Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), in a statement.

Arrivals of irregular migrants via Greece's land border with Turkey doubled on Tuesday, Kathimerini understands, with police intercepting more than 400 people in the border areas of Tychero and Ferres within 24 hours. 

The influx was significantly greater than in previous days when border guards stopped between 200 and 250 asylum seekers daily. 

The German Federal Minister of Interior, Horst Seehofer has decided to lift the majority of existing border controls at the internal borders on June 15, after estimating that the level of the Coronavirus pandemic allows such a step to be taken.

A government bid to move thousands of refugees out of state facilities and subsidized accommodation to make room for new asylum seekers is stalling as only very few people have departed, Kathimerini understands.