Yanis Muzalas, Minister of Immigration, said that the return to Turkey of the people coming from that country will be increased, particularly those who have not sought refuge, as provided in the agreement signed in March this year between the European Union (EU) and Turkey.
Muzalas said that with this purpose his Government appointed 400 other immigration officials that will join the 200 ones who were working in that operation, while requesting additional support from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) to place in Greece at least 80 officials more.
At the present, more than 14,000 illegal immigrants overflow shelters opened in the Aegean islands, with a total capacity to provide only some 7,000 people with shelter, so the transfer of hundreds is expected to mainland Greece to ease this situation, said Muzalas.
The EU-Turkey agreement reached on March 20 allows for the return of “irregular migrants” to Turkey from Greece in exchange for Syrian refugees to be relocated within the EU directly from Turkey.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that more than 3,000 refugees had reached Greek islands in August.
