More than 300 immigrants landed on Lesvos (Mytilene) overnight on Wednesday, adding to the already 5,300 people being hosted in mostly sub-par facilities on the island.
Authorities have accused Turkey of easing security measures allowing third country nationals to leave Turkey and cross over to Greece, despite an EU – Turkey migration deal to stem the flow from Turkey.
After the 6 billion euro migration deal was signed in 2016, nearly a month later, arrivals to Greece dropped by a staggering 90%.
According to EU figures cited by German newspaper Die Welt, between March 2016 and January 2018, 62,190 asylum seekers landed on the Aegean islands, of whom 27,635, or 45 percent, were subsequently transferred to mainland Greece.
The newspaper went on to say that this transfer policy by Greece of migrants from islands to the mainland undermines e European Union-Turkey deal signed two years ago to stem the flow of refugees and migrants to the continent.
The migrant/refugee crisis erupted on a massive scale in Greece in 2015, four years after the civil war in Syria began, resulting in roughly one million people landing on Greek territory in a bid to reach preferred destinations in Western Europe.
