(and see below for a new planned refugee camp with capacity for 5,000
people further inland in Manisa, north of Izmir)
++
http://www.euronews.com/2016/04/02/turks-protest-plans-to-process-migrants-returned-under-eu-deal/
Turks protest plans to process migrants returned under EU deal
The Turkish town of Dikili has been earmarked to house migrants sent
back from Greece under a controversial EU deal.
Many locals say they don’t want a refugee centre in their town. They say
a sudden influx of migrants could prompt a backlash and put off
tourists. Turkish officials say they are not refugee centres, but rather
processing points from which the migrants will be sent elsewhere as soon
as possible.
Nurten Ataoglu says other people can shelter the refugees in their
homes, but she doesn’t want them.
“I don’t have to put up with the results of the government’s dirty
politics. Let us pay 1,000 liras [about 290 euros] each and Europe can
take the migrants. We feel sorry in a humanistic manner. We say no to wars.”
“Those who want can shelter the refugees in their homes but I don’t want
them,” she adds. “My life comes first. It is more precious than the others.”
Mayor of Dikili Mustafa Torun said “Dikili is making investments on
geothermal and ecological tourism and this will be an obstacle on the
way. We had investors. They filed an application to Gendarmerie tourism
desk and started investment. But they will now withdraw their
investments after years.”
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-begins-work-refugee-processing-centres-323463867
Turkish authorities on Saturday raced to set up reception centres to
process Syrian and other refugees two days ahead of the implementation
of a hugely controversial deal with the EU for them to be sent back from
Greece to Turkish soil.
Turkey is due to start receiving refugees migrants who crossed the
Aegean Sea for EU member Greece from Monday but so far details have been
vague over how the transfer will be implemented.
Work has now started on a centre in the major Aegean tourist resort of
Cesme in Izmir province, which faces the Greek island of Chios that has
been a major target for refugees and migrants, the town's mayor said on
Saturday.
Local officials in Dikili, also in Izmir province on the Aegean and
facing the Greek island of Lesbos - have said a readmission centre is
being established in their town.
Water pipes and electricity cables are being laid for the 500
square-metre area by the Ulusoy harbour in Cesme, mayor Muhittin Dalgic
was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
The centre will have tents for finger-printing and registering refugees
and migrants as well as sanitation facilities, he said.
But Turkish officials said such centres were not refugee camps but
processing points from which the refugees and migrants will be sent
elsewhere as soon as possible.
"Once the health checks and registration is done for the migrants, they
will be sent on to camps," Dalgic was quoted as saying. "We intend to
complete this work with them staying for as short a time as possible."
There have been fears in Turkey's fashionable Aegean resorts that a
sudden influx of refugees and migrants could prompt a backlash from
locals and put off tourists.
Hazy transfer details
It remains to be seen how the initial transfers will proceed. Pictures
broadcast by NTV television on Friday showed only a barren space at the
site of the proposed Dikili centre.
The Milliyet daily carried a report on Saturday saying that as the
Dikili centre was not finished, initial registrations on Monday would
take part in indoor sports arenas in the town.
Greek news agency ANA meanwhile reported that some 750 people will be
sent from Lesbos to Dikili between Monday and Wednesday on board two
Turkish vessels chartered by EU border guards agency Frontex.
"Planning is in progress," Yiorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for Greece's
refugee coordination unit, told AFP, while declining to comment further.
Turkish media reports meanwhile have said the Turkish Red Crescent is
preparing to open a new refugee camp with capacity for 5,000 people
further inland in Manisa in western Turkey - its first outside the south
and east of the country - to accommodate the new influx.
Turkish and EU leaders in March agreed the deal for curbing the influx
of refugees and migrants that has plunged Europe into its biggest
migration crisis since the end of World War II.
Turkey, which is hosting some 2.7 million Syrian refugees, will allow
one Syrian to migrate to Europe in exchange for every one it takes back.
Germany said on Friday it will take in the first Syrian refugees and
interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said that most of the arrivals
expected on Monday would be families with children.
The deal was approved by the Greek parliament in a vote on Friday.
But the terms of the deal have sparked fierce debate, with Amnesty
International saying on Friday that Turkey could no longer be trusted as
a "safe country" for refugees.
It accused Turkey of returning Syrian refugees to Syria against their
will and said the deal with the EU had "fatal flaws".
Turkey has always vehemently denied that any Syrian is forced to go home
and insists its "open door" policy remains in place.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 151,104
migrants crossed the Aegean from Turkey to Greece this year alone and
366 drowned during the perilous trip.
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