NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday the number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea into Europe is “significantly down,” one day after news emerged that as many as 500 of them may have drowned last week in the sea between Libya and Italy.Stoltenberg, speaking at a joint press news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankrara, said international coordination had helped push the numbers down, but he urged authorities not to abandon efforts prematurely as human smugglers can easily change routes and tactics.
He said human smugglers were still actively trying to ship migrants across the Aegean Sea into Europe. Stoltenberg said, however, that the numbers were “significantly down,” which he added “confirms our collective efforts are making a difference.”
Under a recent EU-Turkey deal, migrants arriving on Greek islands from the Turkish coast from March 20 onwards face deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. The International Organization for Migration says Greece has seen fewer than 70 migrant arrivals a day over the past 10 days, down from a staggering nearly 1,500 of arrivals a day before the deal was struck in March.
Warships from the NATO military alliance began patrolling the Aegean Sea in February to help stop the overwhelming surge of migrants arriving on the shores of Europe.