COMPARED with many Syrian asylum-seekers, Rima is in a rather comfortable situation. A teacher from Aleppo, she lives with her 18-month-old daughter in a central Athens hotel taken over by left-wing activists. Her application to be relocated to another country in the European Union is making progress: she may join her brother’s family in Spain by September. “I was fortunate,” she says. “I was on the boat to Athens on March 20th”—the day the EU’s tough new policy to deport asylum-seekers from the Greek islands back to Turkey took effect.
In April the flow of refugees and migrants into the east Aegean islands—more than 850,000 in total last year—slowed by more than 90%. A few boatloads still arrive most days, but the number of migrants rarely exceeds 100. Turkish co-operation (extended in return for €3 billion ($3.36 billion) of European aid and the promise of visa-free travel for Turks in the EU’s Schengen zone) is “effective right now” says an official from Frontex, the EU’s border agency, which monitors the flows. On the Turkish side, both the people-smugglers and their customers have all but disappeared, he...Continue reading
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