Refugees

The EU on Dec. 17 announced the finalizing contracting process of €6 billion ($7.3 billion) in aid for refugees hosted by Turkey, focused on the 4 million Syrian refugees who since 2011 fled the war in their home country for safe shelter in Turkey.

Belgium confirmed its intention to receive 150 refugees and asylum seekers from Greece by the end of the year during a teleconference on Wednesday between Deputy Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos and the Belgian secretary of state for asylum and migration, Sammy Mahdi.

Koumoutsakos thanked the Belgian government for its practical solidarity with Greece.

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.

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.

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 arrival of migrants dropped 91 pct in May compared with the same month last year, according to data released by the Migration Policy Ministry on Thursday.

On four islands (Chios, Samos, Leros, Kos) there were no arrivals last month.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 60 asylum seekers on May 29 in the Aegean Sea.   

Acting on a tip, rescue teams reached asylum seekers who were on a rubber boat that was forced into Turkish territorial waters by the Greek Coast Guard.

Sixty out of the current 93 hospitality openings created in hotels for asylum seekers on the mainland will be closed in 2020 and the residents will be transferred to other facilities or will be included in the the UN Refugee Agency's ESTIA integration program, Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Thursday.

Greece should take steps to end its own barbaric acts before accusing the Turkish government of barbarism, said Turkey on May 28.

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.