Greece’s Migration Minister praised Turkey’s commitment to reducing migration from Asia into Europe during an interview (with Aljazeera). Dimitris Kairidis described this change in Turkish policy as a positive shift and expressed Greece’s willingness to collaborate to make the most of it.

Kairidis compared the current Turkish approach to their actions in March 2020, when Turkey unilaterally departed from a European Union agreement, leading to a surge of undocumented refugees and migrants crossing into Greece. He commended Turkey’s efforts to combat human smugglers and migration flows, especially along the land borders with Greece and Bulgaria.

Turkey reported arresting 140,000 undocumented individuals attempting to cross into Europe since the beginning of the year, with 40,000 deportations to their home countries and the capture of 5,000 smugglers. The ministers of the two countries also agreed to exchange and publish migration statistics regularly. This change in Turkey’s stance is driven by a desire to avoid becoming a hub for illegal migration, given its substantial refugee population and the ineffectiveness of the previous policy, said Kairidis.