BALADI NEWS
Following months of illegal pushbacks of migrants, Greek authorities have finally introduced a legal framework to regularly deport refugees thanks to a new, controversial law that is likely to speed up the process.
An estimated 30 migrants per day have been deported to Turkey from Greece since the law went into force on Jan. 1, Adonis Georgiadis, deputy head of the governing New Democracy party, announced Monday.
Speaking to Real, a broadcaster based in the Greek capital Athens, Georgiadis confirmed that authorities in Turkey had been accepting the deported refugees, showing an acceleration in the asylum process.
The 237-page bill on international protection and other provisions was initially passed on Oct. 31 with the intention of speeding up the asylum process, which has been routinely stalled, causing thousands to remain in limbo while waiting for their cases to be resolved.
According to the Greek government, the new bill will smooth out the refugee integration process while migrants whose asylum applications were denied will be deported more quickly.
A backlog of 68,000 asylum requests waiting to be resolved has meant that some refugees have to wait for years on the Greek islands before knowing whether they will be allowed to stay.
However, politicians' statements have indicated that a lot more than efficiency lies behind the reasoning for the bill.
“Enough is enough; enough with those people who know that they are not entitled to asylum and yet they attempt to cross into and stay in our country,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis minutes before the vote on the bill in Parliament.
For many pundits, his words represent the real face of the bill. Under the guise of speeding up the bureaucratic processes of asylum, the bill also makes changes that will put refugees in difficult situations.
Refusing to fulfill its duties in the refugee crisis, Greece has been criticized for mistreating refugees crossing its borders and forcefully pushing them back to Turkey on boats.
According to Turkey's Interior Ministry, 25,404 irregular migrants were pushed back into Turkey by Greece in the first 10 months of 2019, a significant increase from the 11,867 migrants pushed back in 2018.
Greek police have gained notoriety for their abuse and illegal deportations of refugees, according to numerous sources.