Greek Islanders Want Their Life Back
by Burak Bekdil
February 20, 2020 at 4:30 am
"We want our islands back... We want our lives back!!!" — Posters across Greece's northeast Aegean islands.
The owner of the beautiful tavern... "recollects how the 'refugee business' works... the distance between the Turkish mainland and Lesbos is shortest here (just five miles): "It's 1,500 euros per person and one boat takes up to 60 persons. One boat's turnover is thus 90,000 euros if it travels once a day."
At Moria, the largest camp on the island of Lesbos, 19,000 refugees presently seek shelter at a facility with a capacity of 2,840 people.
In 2016 Ankara and Brussels reached a deal in which the EU committed six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in migrant assistance and a more liberal visa regime for Turkish nationals in return for Turkey stopping migrants from crossing. The deal has not stopped the refugee flow from the Turkish coast. Turkey claims that so far, only about $2 billion has been paid.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15603/greece-islands-migrants
