EFDbackup: Dirty deal on refugees between Turkey and EU starts. Greece starts deporting refugees…

The Guardian view on the EU refugee deal: Greece has Europe’s reputation in its hands | Editorial

World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk

Deporting migrants could be a human rights catastrophe. Officials must tread with the greatest careThe crunch has arrived. After a vote by Greek MPs, Monday sees the start of the implementation of last month’s EU agreement with Turkey, the process of deporting so-called “irregular” refugees and migrants newly arrived in Greece from Turkey. It is a moment that may come to reshape what we understand by Europe.

Greece starts deporting refugees under controversial new plan

Mashable! by Blathnaid Healy

Under heavy security, authorities on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios deported 202 migrants and refugees on boats bound for Turkey — the first to be sent back as part of a controversial European Union plan to limit the amount of migration to Europe.

Debate: EU begins deporting migrants to Turkey

euro|topics

The EU border protection agency Frontex began implementing the deal between the EU and Turkey on Monday: around 130 refugees were deported from Greece to Turkey. Migrants are not safe there, some commentators argue. Others believe the new strategy makes Europe’s asylum policy fairer.

Greece and Turkey ready first refugee returns under EU deal

EurActiv.com by Georgi Gotev

Greece is making final preparations to return hundreds of migrants to Turkey, the first to be sent back under a landmark EU deal that has been slammed by human rights watchdogs.

Deportation of refugees from Greece to Turkey begins

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (IN DEPTH

The first boat carrying people to be returned from Greece to Turkey under EU deal leaves shores of Lesbos.

Protests in Greece and Turkey over EU refugee deal

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (IN DEPTH)

Protests against the presence of refugees take place in Greece and Turkey as EU deal is about to get implemented.

Refugees Started to be Returned to Turkey

Bianet :: English

The first group of refugees have been brought back to Turkey within the scope of the agreement between Turkey and the EU. Anadolu Agency has reported that the 131 refugees brought to Dikili district of İzmir province from Lesbos Island of Greece are predominantly Pakistani citizens.

Realism for Europe and Turkey

Project Syndicate by Joschka Fischer

A clash of values will almost certainly continue to define relations between Europe and Turkey. But, as has been true for a century, much more – both sides’ fundamental security interests – will be in the balance as well.

Deported migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey – video

World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk

The first boats returning 131 migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey on Monday, as part of a new deal between the European Union and the Turkish government. Ankara has agreed to take back anyone who entered Greece illegally, in exchange for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. The new deal, which was signed in March, has been criticised by rights groups

Smugglers offer Turkey to Italy boat crossings

World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Patrick Kingsley in Istanbul and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

Travellers sceptical over Facebook ad for alternative passage to EU avoidng Greece after scams and ‘ghost ship’ perils

Turkey-based smugglers have begun to re-advertise trips between Turkey and Italy, in the first hint of a shift in migration patterns since the EU agreed a deal to deport any refugees landing in Greece.

The refugee crisis: Fixing Schengen is not enough

Centre for European Reform

Solving the problems of the Schengen area will not stop Europe’s refugee crisis. This is a foreign policy crisis with domestic spill-over; it has to be solved abroad as well as at home.

In January, the European Commission gave Greece three months to improve its border controls, and process refugees and migrants more effectively, or face suspension from the borderless Schengen area. Border controls have been reinstated by six of the 26 Schengen states (Austria, France, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden). Hungary built a fence last year to keep out migrants arriving from Serbia. EU ministers are discussing whether to suspend the Schengen arrangements for up to two years.

Finland: The sick man of Europe?

BBC News | Europe | World Edition