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Turkey saves all 44 migrants stranded on Aegean island
Turkey saves all 44 migrants stranded on Aegean island
All 44 undocumented migrants who were stranded on an island in the Aegean while attempting to illegally cross into Greece were rescued. Click through for the story in photos...
The migrants, including children, were trapped on Turkey’s Boğaz Island and were saved by Turkish Coast Guard helicopters, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, were quoted as saying.
Boğaz—an uninhabited island off the Çesme district of the Aegean province of İzmir—stands near the Greek island of Chios, on Greece’s many islands that have served as accommodation areas for migrants trying to cross into Europe.
Turkey has been a main route for refugees on their ways to Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
On June 29, Turkish Coast Guard saved 53 migrants off of Çeşme, again, as the group’s rubber dinghy was sinking while they had been fleeing to start a new chapter in Europe using a route over Greece.
Officials have stated those migrants were of Egyptian, Syrian, Syrian and Afghan descent. After those who were saved were provided with food and water on the Turkish shore, they were taken to the local immigration center, local media reported.
In 2016, Turkey and the EU signed a deal aiming to stem the irregular migration flow through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving conditions for nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas on May 2 described the Turkey-EU refugee deal as an “antidote” to the closed-door policy towards refugees adopted by some European countries.
Speaking at the regional conference on production and reconstruction in the north Aegean on the Greek island of Lesbos, Vitsas slammed some European countries who are ignoring deteriorating living conditions in refugee camps.
“There are as many as 15 refugee camps on the Greek islands including Lesbos, Chios and Samos, which is above the total camp capacity. The Greek government aims to move the refugees to the mainland to ease the problems,” Vitsas said.
Photos: Anadolu Agency
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