Turkey and Greece vowed close cooperation on March 8 on a plan to send back migrants rejected by Europe, laying aside historic differences in an agreement they hope will end illegal flows of people across the Aegean Sea.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu that the readmission agreement would help to reduce the "unbearable flow" into Europe.
"(It) sends a clear message to migrants coming from third countries, rather than countries at war, ... that there is neither the political will (to allow their passage) nor the ability to cross to Europe," he said after meetings in Turkey's Aegean coastal city of Izmir.
"This is the reality we ought to sincerely convey to them in order to stop, to reduce, this unbearable flow for our countries."
The prime ministers were meeting a day after Ankara offered to the EU to take back all migrants who cross into Europe from Turkish soil in return for agreement in principle on its demands for more money, faster EU membership talks and earlier visa-free travel.
More than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond have flooded into the EU since early 2015, most making the perilous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece, then heading north through the Balkans to Germany.
A Greek official said that while Turkey and Greece had had a readmission agreement for some time, the deal signed on March 7 changed the mechanism so that illegal migrants could be sent back immediately.
"The aim here is to discourage irregular migration and ... to recognise those Syrians in our camps who the EU will accept - though we will not force any one to go against their will - on legal routes," Davutoglu said, adding that there would be no extra financial burden on Turkey.
"Europe will cover all costs of readmitting migrants from the Aegean, the readmission costs (including) returning to Turkey and to a third country, or their own country," he said.
Reuters
