Slovenia receives group of 14 refugees from Greece, 8 more return to Turkey

Xinhua — Slovenia on Wednesday received another group of 14 asylum seekers from Greece as part of the European Union (EU)-sponsored relocation scheme, the Interior Ministry said.

The group, consisting of 12 Syrians and two Iraqis, have been brought by bus to the asylum centre in the Ljubljana Vic borough, where their asylum requests will be processed.

Excluding the latest arrangement, Slovenia had accepted 61 migrants under the relocation plan, 15 Eritreans had been relocated from Italy and 31 Syrians and 15 Iraqis from Greece.

Wednesday’s arrival increases the number of asylum seekers relocated to Slovenia to 75 out of the total of 567 that the country committed to accept under the relocation plan this and next year.

In addition, Slovenian government promised to permanently resettle 60 more refugees in its country, including 40 Syrian refugees who are currently in Turkey.

A further eight Syrian refugees were sent to Turkey on Wednesday after they gave up their right to asylum.

A special flight was chartered by Frontex and the eight refugees flew by Astra Airlines to Adana, southern Turkey, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).

Currently there are over 57000 migrants stranded in Greece.