Greece's coast guard in the eastern Aegean Sea has rescued nearly 80 migrants trying to cross from Turkey in inflatable dinghies in two separate incidents.
Arrivals in Greece for the whole of 2022 totaled 19,000. Most were people from the Middle East and Africa seeking a better life in the European Union.
The government in Athens has attributed the rise in migrant crossings to better summer sailing weather and smugglers taking advantage of an increase in Aegean small boat traffic during the tourist season. “There’s always an increase in migratory flows in the summer,” the minister for the merchant marine, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, said Sunday. “But ... despite the increasing trend, the overall migration situation is fully under control.”
After nearly a million people entered Greece at the height of Europe’s 2015 migration crisis, hoping to move on to more affluent countries deeper in the continent, Athens stepped up patrols off the eastern islands near Turkey to reduce arrivals. Human rights groups have accused the government of summarily and illegally deporting arriving migrants back to Turkey without allowing them to seek asylum in Greece, which Athens strongly denies., leaving hundreds presumed dead. Greek authorities were heavily criticized for failing to evacuate the vessel in time.The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting.
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