The EU border protection agency, Frontex, is leading the program and escorting the migrants to a nearby port in Izmir in Turkey, The Associated Press reported.
“All of the migrants returned are from Pakistan, except for two migrants from Syria who returned voluntarily,” AP quoted Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for a government refugee crisis committee, as saying on state TV.
Kyritsis explained that 136 people were deported from Lesbos and 66 others from the island of Chios, where police forces clashed with residents opposing the deportation hours earlier during a protest.
Reports revealed different numbers of refugees expected in Turkey on Monday, with the BBC saying that Turkish officials are expecting 500 migrants arriving in the first convey.
Kurdish and other refugees stuck in a makeshift camp in the Greek border town of Idomeni and blocked from entering Europe under an EU deal, talked to a Rudaw reporter on Sunday. They called on authorities to let them in, many recounting tales of deprivation and despair.
“We have been here for two months now and we want the authorities to open the door for us so we can pass. Every one of us is out of money now and our children are sick,” a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimani told a Rudaw reporter in Idomeni, which is on the border with Macedonia.
Another refugee from Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, said he had escaped war and all he wanted is a safe place.
Under an EU deal signed last month, refugees arriving in Greece will be deported to Turkey, where some refugees and human rights agency find unsafe place to live.
“Turkey is not a safe third country for refugees. The EU and Greek authorities know this and have no excuse,” Giorgo Kosmopoulos, head of Amnesty International in Greece, told AP.
A refugee from Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, told Rudaw on Sunday that he did not want to live in Turkey, that he had escaped war and that all he wanted is a safe place.
“If we are sent back to Turkey, we will not stay there. The situation in Kurdistan was good when I was there. We should either go to Europe or go back to Kurdistan,” he said.
“We were forced to leave our home. There is conflict everywhere with the YPG (Kurdish force), Daesh and the Syrian government. What can we do?”
More than 10,000 migrants are now stranded at Idomeni. Charities are reporting greater numbers of desperate people arriving, with nowhere left to go.
from Rudaw http://ift.tt/1pZ5agE
via Defense News