Greece is going to ask neighboring Turkey to crack down harder on gangs trafficking would-be asylum seekers, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday, citing a senior migration official.
“We are not doing enough about migrant smugglers. We are raising the issue with our European peers and our Turkish neighbors,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“The cooperation that we intend to intensify with Turkey will focus on the war against smuggling networks,”
Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos is expected to discuss the issue with Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya in November.
More than 37,000 asylum seekers entered Greece in the first nine months of the year, mainly from Turkey, according to ministry figures.
Arrivals are predicted to reach 50,000 by the end of the year.
Disasters involving would-be asylum seekers occur regularly off the coast of Greece, one of the main countries through which people fleeing poverty or war in Africa, Asia and the Middle East seek to enter the European Union.
Several people have drowned in migrant boat sinkings in recent days.
Greek government officials have stressed that the country’s camps — which can accommodate some 50,000 asylum seekers while their claims for refuge are processed — are not currently under pressure.
But two key new facilities have faced obstacles.
The EU in 2021 allocated 155 million euros ($167 million) to the Greek government to build new camps on the Aegean islands of Lesbos and Chios.
But work on both projects has been held up by local opposition.
In Chios, the plan may have to be scrapped altogether, the ministry official admitted on Thursday.
Lesbos, meanwhile, has faced an ongoing dispute about widening a road through a pristine forest to the new camp, which is nearly complete.