The Greek government says it’s bracing itself for a dramatic uptick in migrants coming from its neighbor across the Aegean Sea.
As migrants continue to pour into Greece from Turkey and as the crisis on the Greek islands continues to deepen, the Greek government has predicted that 100,000 more migrants will arrive from Turkey next year, Deutsche Welle reports.
“The crisis is happening now, and it is serious,” Manos Logothetis, government commissioner for migration, said on Wednesday.
As a result of 45,000 migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Greece during the last half-year alone, Logothetis says that the situation in Greece is “clearly more critical” than it was during the height of the migrant crisis in 2015.
Migrant facilities on the Greek Islands of Lesbos and Samos that were originally designed to accommodate less than 10,000 people are currently housing more than 41,000 migrants. It’s the highest number of migrants housed at these facilities since the EU-Turkey migrant agreement came into effect in 2016.
In October, two separate fires at migrant camps on the Greek islands left two dead and hundreds without shelters. In addition to the fires, the incidents saw migrants violently clash with Greek police.
Following threats from Turkish President Recep Erdogan to flood Europe with more than three million migrants, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged NATO to increase its naval patrols in the Aegean Sea. Feeling alone in their struggle, the Greek government has also called on the EU to sanction member states who refuse to accept migrant relocation quotas.
To help reduce the pressure on their overflowing reception centers, Logothetis said that the Greek government would like to see 10,000 migrants deported back to Turkey. Before it can do so, however, Greece would need 270 asylum case reviews.
The Greek government also plans to construct new migrant reception centers on its five islands where most of the migrants land after sailing from Turkey.
Last week, France announced that it would accept 400 asylum seekers from Greece to help ease its situation.
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