It has been three years since the European Union signed the “one in, one out” deal with Turkey on 18 March, 2016. The ongoing humanitarian crisis on the Greek Islands shows that the refugee issue has not been solved.
The deal was a reaction to the arrival of more than a million refugees in Europe during the summer of 2015. It was based on the exchange of one “irregular Syrian” on the Greek Islands in return for a Syrian asylum seeker based in Turkey. The main purpose of the deal was to end irregular crossings to Europe and encourage refugees to apply for asylum in Turkey. Hence, it was said by the European Commission that priority for granting asylum would be given to those migrants “who have not previously entered or tried to enter the EU irregularly.” The deal indeed reduced the number of people attempting to cross the Aegean Sea and the number of deaths on this route fell dramatically. However, time has shown that the refugee crisis has not been solved by this agreement; instead, it is exacerbated by holding the refugees out of sight.
Access Full Article
