The Hellenic Coast Guard has announced that nearly 400 migrants from Turkey made it to the Greek islands in the Aegean in the last two days, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported on Thursday.
According to the report some 21,000 migrants are currently held at processing centers on Chios, Samos, Leros, Kos and Lesbos islands.
A deal signed in March 2016 between Turkey and the European Union stipulated the return of those who were not granted refugee status. At the time of the signing of the agreement, around 5,800 were hosted in refugee camps on Greek islands.
The new conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis plans to speed up the decision process for asylum seekers, which used to take nearly two years under the government of former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and to send those with rejected applications back to Turkey as soon as possible.
The alternate minister for citizens’ protection, Giorgos Koumoutsakos, said the situation had become untenable at processing centers and that more personnel would be stationed on the islands.