Collection of Hundreds of Refugees in Turkey Following Agreement with the European Union

One day after the agreement between Turkey and the European Union to 'manage' refugees and prevent their movement to Europe, Turkish police have stopped hundreds of individuals, including Iranian refugees, from crossing the sea to reach Greece. According to Reuters, on Monday, December 9, Turkish police collected about 1,300 migrants and refugees who were attempting to reach Greece by sea from their hiding places near the Aegean Sea shores and surrounding forests. Based on the report, citing Turkish officials, hundreds of these individuals, who were Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, and Afghan, were gathered with three human traffickers near the city of 'Ayachik' in the 'Canakale' province and sent to a temporary detention center, with the possibility of returning some of them to their countries of origin. The action by Turkish police occurred one day after an emergency meeting between Turkey and EU leaders regarding controlling the influx of refugees. According to the International Organization for Migration, over 600,000 migrants and refugees have entered Greece from Turkey by sea this year and subsequently moved to other EU member states. Additionally, nearly 600 individuals have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea before reaching their destination. Greece is an EU member, and refugees and migrants are trying to enter this country and pass through it to reach northern European countries, especially Germany and Sweden. On Sunday, 28 EU members reached an agreement with the Turkish government to control illegal migration to Greece in exchange for facilities, including a €3 billion aid package, and to improve the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Ahmet Davutoglu, the Prime Minister of Turkey, who attended the meeting on Sunday, emphasized that his government would fulfill its promises to the EU to 'prevent new waves of Syrian refugees from flooding into Europe and manage the existing crisis in this regard.'