“We Can Make Your Problem Go Away”: Turkey’s Responsibility for the ‘Refugee Crisis’
4th December 2015
For years the Turkish coast guard and police had stopped most of the people-smuggling boats from crossing the narrow strip of the Aegean between Anatolia and the Greek Islands. As long as those boats were stopped, the flow of migrants into the EU from Turkey remained a trickle. Most Mediterranean trafficking used the more westerly route from Libya or Tunisia to Lampedusa, Pantelleria, Malta, Sicily, and the southern Italian mainland.
All that changed about five months ago, when Turkey abruptly stopped interdicting the people-smugglers, who were allowed to ply their trade without hindrance. The results are well-known: a million or so “refugees” have illegally entered the European Union by landing in Greece and then traveling overland to Austria and Germany.