More migrants expelled to Turkey

Greece deported a second batch of more than a hundred migrants to Turkey on Friday and Germany announced a sharp drop in asylum claims, after the European Union toughened efforts to end its worst migration crisis since World War II.

A police source on the Greek island of Lesbos said 45 Pakistani men had been put on a Turkish ferry, despite efforts by activists to stop the second expulsion operation under an EU-Turkey deal that has been slammed by rights groups.

A small group of activists who jumped into the water and clung onto the ferry's anchor were pried off by coast guard officers and briefly detained.

A child cries as migrants clash with Greek policemen as they try to open the border fence at a makeshift camp at border with Macedonia on Thursday. Marko Djurica / Reuters

Some 30 protesters also gathered at Lesbos' port, chanting "Stop deportations", "EU, shame on you" and "Freedom for the refugees".

In Germany, Europe's top destination for refugees, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced that asylum applications had dropped 66 percent in March after a string of border closures in the Balkans halted the influx from Greece.

The highly disputed deal was designed to discourage people from making the perilous Aegean crossing from Turkey to Greece in flimsy boats, by presenting them with the threat of deportation straight back to where they came from.

For every Syrian refugee sent back to Turkey, one Syrian is supposed to be resettled in Europe. In return for its cooperation, Turkey has been promised $6.8 billion in financial aid to help the 2.7 million Syrian refugees it is hosting, and visa-free European travel for Turks by June.

Erdogan's warning

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the EU on Thursday that Ankara would drop the deal if Brussels fails to live up to its side of the bargain. "There are precise conditions. If the European Union does not take the necessary steps, then Turkey will not implement the agreement," he said.

Turkey's long-stalled accession process to join the EU is also supposed to be re-energized under the accord.

Turkish coast guard operations to intercept migrants and clamp down on people-smugglers have helped sharply reduce the numbers arriving in Europe, with more than 65,000 people stopped from crossing the Aegean Sea since January, according to state media.

Erdogan also argued Turkey deserves something in return for its commitment to Syrian refugees, on whom it has spent some $10 billion since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

"Some 3 million people are being fed on our budget," the president said.

"There have been promises, but nothing has come for the moment."

AFP - AP