Rapprochement With Turkey Reduced Illegal Migration to Greece, PM Says

The policy of rapprochement with Turkey had helped decrease illegal migration flows, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said from Lesvos.

“Greece is one of the few countries, if not the only one, which has effectively handled the problem of refugee flows with tangible results, with a significant reduction of flows, through the exceptional work done by our coast guard but also through cooperation with Turkish authorities,” Mitsotakis said, adding that the improvement in relations with Turkey had measurable results in daily life.

“The reduction, therefore, of migration flows, of illegal migration, the increase in legal visits that are the flip side of this coin, are hands-on proof that this policy of rapprochement between Greece and Turkey has real results that bring a substantial economic ‘dividend’ of growth for Lesvos and all the islands of the Eastern Aegean,” Mitsotakis added.

New flashpoint for illegal migration to Greece is in the southern Aegean

Around 10,163 migrants reached Greece by sea so far this year.

Greece is a major arrival point for migrants seeking a better life in the European Union. For years, most headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands, such as Lesvos, Chios, and Samos near the Turkish mainland.

But increased Greek and European Union sea patrols in the area have prompted smuggling gangs to also seek alternative routes, including from Libya to southern Crete and from Turkey to Italy around the southern Greek mainland.

Mitsotakis on the fast-track visa program for Turkish tourists

Mitsotakis also referred to the fast-track visa program for Turkish tourists to the island and others, the prime minister said that this granted a long-standing request of the regional authorities that was not simple to accomplish.

“What you see today, which we accept as more-or-less self-evident, required a great deal of work by the Migration Policy Minister and his team to convince the European Commission that we are ready to meet the high-level requirements of the Schengen [Agreement]. So we are able to issue a visa essentially within minutes,” Mitsotakis said.

Pointing out that this was the only program of its kind in Europe, he stressed that it was “running” “here in the North Aegean,” while adding: “It was a commitment I made and we turned it into action.”

Following Greece’s introduction of the visa-on-arrival program for Turkish tourists, around 20,000 Turks visited five Greek islands in the Aegean Sea throughout the nine-day Eid al-Fitr vacation.

In the first 10 days of April, 3,800 Turkish travelers visited the Greek island of Lesvos, up from only 390 a year ago, while the number of Turks visiting Chios rose from 2,716 to 4,993.

Nearly 6,000 Turkish vacationers traveled to Rhodes during the Eid, up from 2,320 a year earlier. Samos and Kos welcomed 2,851 and 3,300 Turkish tourists, respectively.