Forced migration

Turkey rescued 35 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea on June 11 after they were illegally pushed back by Greek authorities into Turkish territorial waters, according to a security source.

Greece on June 7 announced that applications for asylum filed by individuals in Turkey will no longer be accepted. 

"Turkey is designated a safe country for asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia," said a joint decision by the Greek Foreign Ministry as well as the Migration and Asylum Ministry.

Denmark's parliament on Thursday passed a law enabling the government to relocate asylum seekers to countries outside Europe, news wires reported. The move is seen as an apparent break with the EU's efforts to overhaul Europe's failed migration and asylum rules.

Ljubljana – Amnesty International says in its latest human rights report that Slovenia denied asylum-seekers access to asylum in 2020, while forcibly returning migrants to Croatia. The country is criticised for limiting freedom of assembly during the pandemic, handling Covid infections at care homes inadequately, and failing to resolve Roma issues.

Turkey's coast guard rescued at least 24 asylum seekers stranded in the Aegean Sea off Ayvalık district in northwestern Balıkesir province late on April 5. 

The asylum seekers, who were attempting to reach the Greek island of Lesbos in a rubber boat, were stranded and drifting at sea after the engine failed near Çıplak Island.

A new report by a Serbian human rights lawyer published on Wednesday said that the country only accepted 27 per cent of 223 applications for asylum last year, fewer than in 2019.

"The first conclusion that can be drawn from these figures is that the number of total decisions has dropped by 28 per cent in comparison to 2019 and was the lowest in the past four years," the report said.

Turkey rescued at least 102 asylum seekers stranded in Turkish territorial waters, the Turkish Coast Guard Command said on March 15. 
Acting on a tip-off, a coast guard team was dispatched off the coast of Marmaris in southwestern Muğla province after learning that 11 asylum seekers pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard were stranded on a lifeboat.

A rubber boat drifting off the coast of western Izmir province with 34 asylum seekers was rescued on March 13 by Turkish Coast Guard units. 

Turkish authorities received a distress call from the asylum seekers and found the boat drifting because a strom. All onboard were rescued.

They were referred to the provincial migration office.

In a separate incident, a refugee was arrested after breaking into a house

Overwhelmed by an influx of asylum seekers, the authorities had failed to find a facility where the migrants could follow the 14-day quarantine rule required of every visitor from "yellow" zones, so called because of their high incidence of COVID-19.