Austria eyes soldiers on Italy border

Turkey readies centres for migrants turned back under EU deal

BERLIN, April 2, (Agencies): Austria plans to deploy soldiers at the Brenner border with Italy to stem an expected increase in migrants trying to get to northern Europe, Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil told a German newspaper on Saturday.

Austria, which has broken ranks with Germany in handling Europe’s migrant crisis by imposing border restrictions, has previously said it is preparing to introduce tighter controls if needed. But the minister’s choice of words appears to have intensified the discourse.

“As the EU’s external borders are not yet effectively protected, Austria will soon ramp up strict border controls. That means massive border controls on at the Brenner (Pass), and with soldiers,” Doskozil told Die Welt daily.

Soldiers could support border protection and also help with registration of migrants, aid the humanitarian effort and assist with deportations, he said.

A spokesman for Doskozil was not immediately available to comment.

Doskozil also reiterated his call for a civil-military European Union mission to support the bloc’s border agency Frontex where needed at external borders, possibly in Greece, Bulgaria or Italy.

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With the main migrant route through the Balkans and Austria largely closed, due largely to Austrian border restrictions, Vienna fears new routes will develop through Bulgaria or Albania as Mediterranean crossings to Italy from Libya resume.

On Monday, a deal takes effect between the EU and Turkey which is aimed at stopping the flow of migrants to Europe in return for political and financial rewards for Ankara, sealing off the main route by which a million migrants crossed the Aegean into Greece last year.

“We expect strong use to be made of the central Mediterranean route in the coming weeks,” said Doskozil.

“Last week alone, 5,000 refugees came via the central Mediterranean route. When the weather gets better, these numbers will increase strongly,” he added.

The Austrian army is already helping police handle migrants at its borders.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities on Saturday raced to set up reception centres to process Syrian and other migrants two days ahead of the implementation of a hugely controversial deal with the EU for them to be sent back from Greece to Turkish soil.

Turkey is due to start receiving migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea for EU member Greece from Monday but so far details have been vague over how the transfer will be implemented.

Work has now started on a centre in the major Aegean tourist resort of Cesme in Izmir province, which faces the Greek island of Chios that has been a major target for migrants, the town’s mayor said Saturday.

Local officials in Dikili, also in Izmir province on the Aegean and facing the Greek island of Lesbos — have said a readmission centre is being established in the region for migrants being sent back from Greece.

Water pipes and electricity cables are being laid for the 500 square-metre area by the Ulusoy harbour in Cesme, mayor Muhittin Dalgic was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

The centre will have tents for fingerprinting migrants, registering them as well as sanitation facilities, he said.

But Turkish officials said such centres were not refugee camps but processing points from which the migrants will be sent elsewhere as soon as possible.

“Once the health checks and registration is done for the migrants, they will be sent on to camps,” Dalgic was quoted as saying.

“We intend to complete this work with them staying for as short a time as possible,” he added.

There have been fears in Turkey’s fashionable Aegean resorts that a sudden influx of migrants could prompt a backlash from locals and put off tourists.

It remains to be seen how the initial transfers will proceed. Pictures broadcast by NTV television Friday showed only a barren space at the site of the proposed Dikili centre.

The Milliyet daily carried a report Saturday saying that as the Dikili centre was not finished, the first registrations from Monday would take part in indoor sports arenas in the town.

Greek news agency ANA meanwhile reported that some 750 migrants will be sent from Lesbos to Dikili between Monday and Wednesday on board two Turkish vessels chartered by EU border guards agency Frontex.

Turkish media reports meanwhile have said the Turkish Red Crescent is preparing to open a new refugee camp with capacity for 5,000 people further inland in Manisa in western Turkey — its first outside the south and east of the country — to accommodate the new influx.

Turkish and EU leaders in March agreed the deal for curbing the influx of migrants that has plunged Europe into its biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II.

Turkey, which is hosting some 2.7 million Syrian refugees, will allow one Syrian to migrate to Europe in exchange for every one it takes back.

Germany said Friday it will take in the first Syrian refugees and interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said that most of the arrivals expected Monday would be families with children.

The deal was approved by the Greek parliament in a vote Friday.

But the terms of the deal have sparked fierce debate, with Amnesty International saying Friday that Turkey could no longer be trusted as a “safe country” for refugees.

It accused Turkey of returning Syrian refugees to Syria against their will and said the deal with the EU had “fatal flaws”.

Turkey has always vehemently denied that any Syrian is forced to go home and insists its “open door” policy remains in place.

EU leaders are under pressure from voters at home to halt the flow of migrants into Europe after around one million crossed last year.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 151,104 migrants crossed the Aegean from Turkey to Greece this year alone and 366 drowned during the perilous trip.