Turkey fails to net migrants
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said yesterday he intends to report Turkey to the European Commission for failing to prevent human-smuggling operations from taking place and illegal migrants from entering Greece. Pavlopoulos said that 112,000 illegal immigrants reached Greece in 2007. «We have no response from Turkey (on illegal immigrants),» Pavlopoulos told Parliament. «I will report this on Thursday when I go to Luxembourg (to attend an EU meeting of interior ministers). Turkey assists trafficking and we have evidence of the steps taken by human traffickers,» he added. Greek coast guard authorities round up hundreds of illegal immigrants, often from Iraq and Iran, almost on a daily basis on or around the country’s many islands. Pavlopoulos admitted that Greece needs to do more to improve conditions provided for illegal immigrants that reach the country, adding that he expected the incoming wave of immigrants to pick up soon.
