Death of Five Afghans, Including a Six-Month-Old Child, in the Sea Route from Turkey to Greece

Following the capsizing of a boat carrying refugees on the sea route from Turkey to Greece, five Afghans, including three children, one of whom was only six months old, lost their lives on Wednesday night. The search for two other passengers from this boat continues. According to Reuters, of the four bodies recovered from the Aegean Sea on Thursday morning, one belonged to a six-month-old child. Initial reports indicated that several Iranians were also passengers on this boat, but the Greek Coast Guard confirmed that these reports were incorrect and that no Iranian passengers were present. Apart from one passenger who managed to reach the shore but later died in the hospital, nine other passengers were rescued alive from the water. The news of the recent casualties from the illegal migration of refugees from Turkey to Greece, in an attempt to reach European soil, comes as Turkey began implementing its agreement with the European Union on Thursday to prevent these journeys. Under a new agreement that Turkey signed with the EU last Monday aimed at cutting the flow of illegal migrants, Ankara has committed to preventing migrants, most of whom are Syrian, from crossing its maritime border to Europe in exchange for 'financial aid and political rewards' and to take back those who reach European soil. However, according to the Turkish Minister for European Affairs, this agreement does not include those migrants who have already reached Greek territory. This Turkish official estimated on Thursday that the number of migrants to be returned to Turkey would be 'thousands or tens of thousands.' The implementation of the Turkey-EU agreement on the return of illegal migrants comes as a senior UN human rights official expressed concern and urged the EU to adopt 'more humane measures' at its upcoming summit. According to Reuters, a European countries' summit to address the issue of illegal migrants is scheduled for next week, on March 17. While this will be yet another European summit to address the wave of migration from the Middle East to Europe, no definitive and 'humane' solution has yet been found for this issue, nor has the burden of this wave, especially in the new calendar year, been alleviated.