ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Maria Dimitrakopoulou 157 nied or separated mainly from Syria and Afghanistan. Some 35% of arrivals were men between 18 and 39 years old. Only 4% of arrivals were 50 years old or older. 18 II. The EU – Turkey Statement and the consequences of the new mechanism On 18 March 2016, the European Union (EU) and Turkey signed the EU-Turkey statement which came into effect two days later. This statement sought essential- ly to curb irregular migration, putting an end to arrivals from Turkey to Greece by returning the majority of people to Turkey. It is based on the premise that Turkey is a safe country for asylum seekers, although Turkey maintains a “geographical limitation” to the 1951 Refugee Convention, denies refugee status to “non – Euro- peans”. Turkey already hosts more than three million refugees. 19 Political leaders agreed also to prevent the arrival of new asylum seekers via sea or land in ex- change for the liberation of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens, financial aid (three billion Euros), and a resettlement program for Syrians from Turkey to the EU, with a cap of 72,000 people (based on “one in one out” policy). Nine months later, the deal was reinforced with a joint action plan, a two-page document setting out further action to be taken, 20 aimed at identifying addition- al measures needed by all sides to eliminate the backlog of asylum cases on the Greek islands by April 2017 and to ensure the full implementation of the state- ment 21 . This agreement aimed at stemming arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants from Turkey to Europe, and allegedly offered “ migrants an alternative to putting their lives at risk ”. 22 Despite its symbolic importance, by October 2017, only 1,360 peo- ple (predominantly men) were returned from the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, 18. UNHCR, Overview, January to December 2017, “Arrival figures for Greece are provided by the Hellenic Police. Figures are subject to future adjustment and should not be considered final. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding”, https://data2.unhcr . org/en/documents/download/61492 and http://migration.iom.int/europe/. 19. One year on from the EU – Turkey Deal: Challenging the EU’ S alternative facts, Medecins Sans Frontieres, March 2017, http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/one_year_on_ from_the_eu-turkey_deal.pdf. 20. Joint Action Plan on the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, December 2016. 21. European Commission - Fact Sheet – Implementing the EU – Turkey Statement – Ques- tions and Answers, 8 December 2016. 22. European Council Press Release, EU – Turkey Statement, 18 March 2016.