Turkey tells EU it will protect all returned asylum-seekers

Turkey has promised to protect all asylum-seekers sent back from Europe, not just Syrians, the European Union said on Tuesday, hoping to ease concerns about the main EU strategy to stem the migrant flow into Greece.

The number of people reaching Greek shores from Turkey has dropped since late March, when a deal between Turkey and the European Union took effect allowing them to be returned.

But relatively few, just over 340, have been sent back so far, partly because Turkey, which applies the Geneva Convention on refugees only to Europeans, offers limited protection to Syrians and no legal guarantees for other nationalities.

Brussels had said Ankara must change that to allow the EU to scale up the returns without the risk of violating international humanitarian laws. That includes a ban refoulement, or sending people back to where their safety is at risk.

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