Migrant deal kicks off between EU, Turkey

The implementation of a swap deal on refugees between Turkey and the European Union kicked off on Monday, with dozens of Syrian resettling in Europe in exchange for repatriating some others to Turkey.

The deal was agreed on March 18 in a summit between Turkish and European leaders to regulate migration flow from conflict and poverty areas to Europe via Turkey. The goal is to stop or at least reduce irregular migrants who arrived by illegal means, and to encourage legal settlements.

Over 200 migrants, mostly Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, were transferred on three boats from Greek islands in the Aegean to Turkey's western province Izmir early on Monday. From there, they will be transported on buses to the refugee camp in northwestern province Kirklareli.

When migrants disembarked from ferryboats at the port facility in the town of Dikili in Izmir, they were screened for their health in a temporary shelter before being shuttled to the camps.

Izmir Governor Mustafa Toprak told reporters on Monday that ID check and fingerprinting were rigorously done for safety before allowing the migrants to leave the ships.

He emphasized that the readmission deal is being implemented with a great success.

Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir also said on Monday that the country has set up readmission centers with a capacity of 11,000 people for returning migrants. He said the Turkish government would increase the capacity to 17,000.

"We may host them for a while but will soon start sending them gradually to their home countries," he said in an interview with private broadcaster HaberTurk TV.

The European Commission said in a statement that 44 Syrian refugees were resettled to Germany and Finland. More are expected to arrive in Europe on Tuesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also talked over the phone on late Sunday, discussing the implementation of the refugee deal.

The refugee agreement requires Turkey to take back all irregular migrants who transited to Greece through Turkey. In return, the EU has agreed to resettle Syrians to its member states although the cap was set at 72,000.

Brussels has also pledged to provide six billion euros in total to help offset some of the cost Turkey shouldered in taking care of refugees.

Turkey is home to some three million refugees, and has spent 10 billion U.S. dollars in taking care of them. The Turkish opposition has criticized the government for agreeing on an unfair deal with the EU.

Murat Emir, a member of the Parliament from the main opposition Republican Peoples' Party, said on Monday that Turkey has unfortunately transformed into a major refugee camp.

"The EU has done everything to make sure refugees stay in Turkey," he lamented.

Turkish analysts also slammed the deal, saying that it is a flawed agreement.

Yavuz Baydar, a columnist with Ozgur Dusunce daily, said the agreement was done in rush and prepared quite poorly.

"The poor refugees will have to bear consequences of this stupid deal," he noted.

Describing the deal as "terrible," Sezin Oney, a political scientist at Bilkent University, noted that the EU is accepting "desired" refugees while deporting "unwanted" to Turkey.

The problem of sending refugees back to their home countries also presents a challenging task for the Turkish government.

Turkish Foreign Ministry's Deputy Undersecretary Ayse Sinirlioglu has recently told lawmakers in Parliament that Turkey has readmission agreements with 14 countries so far and submitted a draft deal to 14 new countries with a hope of signing the deal soon.

Many of the refugees that were shipped back to Turkey include nationals of Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh and Myanmar, countries that Ankara has not finalized readmission agreements yet.

Izmir Governor Toprak said migrants from countries with which Turkey already has readmission agreement will be sent back within that framework, while others will be transferred through travel documents.

However, he did not say how the Turkish government plans to procure travel documents for migrants from countries that have not agreed to any readmission deal with Ankara yet.

Source: XINHUA