Today Frontex assisted Greece in transporting 124 migrants on two ferries from the island of Lesbos to Turkey. One of the migrants was refused by the Turkish authorities and was returned to Lesbos.
The operation included 144 escort officers deployed by Frontex, as well as Greek officers.
The readmission operation is coordinated between the Greek and Turkish authorities as part of Greek-Turkish readmission protocol.
The Greek authorities are responsible for making sure that all migrants to be readmitted have been subject to individual decisions taken in full accordance with EU and international law.
Note to the press:
For details related to the EU-Turkey agreement please contact the European Commission Tove.ERNST@ec.europa.eu and Natasha.BERTAUD@ec.europa.eu
For matters related to asylum procedures in Greece please contact the Greek asylum office asylo@asylo.gov.gr, the press offices of the Greek authorities foreign.correspondents@minpress.gr and EASO info@easo.europa.eu
For matters related to the details of return including nationalities of the migrants readmitted to Turkey please contact the Greek authorities foreign.correspondents@minpress.gr