EU, Turkey deal fails to stem flight to Greece

LESBOS: They waved, cheered and smiled, elated to have made it to Europe at dawn yesterday in a packed blue rubber motor boat.

The 50 or so refugees were among the first to arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos on the first day after an EU deal with Turkey designed to close the route by which a million people crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece last year.

Exhausted but relieved, the new arrivals wrapped their wet feet in thermal blankets as volunteers handed out dry clothes and supplies.

Reuters witnesses saw three boats arrive within an hour in darkness in the early hours of yesterday. Two men were pulled out unconscious from one of the boats amid the screams of fellow passengers and were later pronounced dead.

Twelve boats had arrived on the shoreline near the airport by 6 am, a police official said.

Under the EU deal with Turkey, all refugees, including Syrians, who cross to Greece illegally by sea from yesterday will be sent back to Turkey once they are registered and their asylum claims have been processed.

In return, the EU will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

Among the arrivals on the seaweedstrewn beach on the south of Lesbos was Syrian Hussein Ali Muhammad, whose studies were interrupted after the war began. He said he wanted to go to Denmark to continue university.

Asked if he was aware of the European decision, he said: “I know that. I hope to cross these borders. I hope I complete my studies here (in Europe), just this. I don’t want money, I just want to complete my studies. This is my only message.”

Muhammed, who worked odd jobs in Turkey to pay a smuggler to bring him across, said he did not want to go back.

“I worked very, very hard in Turkey. I collected the money to come here. It’s very dangerous and not good.”

Another arrival, 30-year-old computer engineer Mohammed from Daraa in Syria, said he hoped to stay in Greece until he found a way to be reunited with his wife and son in Germany.

“I know the decision. I hope to (meet with) my wife and children,” he said.

The returns to Turkey are due to begin on April 4, as would resettlement of Syrian refugees in Europe. Doubts remain about whether the deal is legal or workable. It was not clear what would happen to the tens of thousands of migrants and refugees already in Greece. – Reuters