NATO steps in, steps up effort to curb migrant rush
NATO announced an expansion of its naval involvement in Europe's refugee crisis Sunday, and the death toll rose ahead of a crucial European Union summit aimed at curbing the chaos.
European leaders hope to persuade Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe from Syria and other embattled nations at a summit Monday. Financial support for the Turks and Greece are also in the works.
The crisis was dealt another tragic blow Sunday when a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish town of Didim, killing more than two dozen people, including at least 10 children, the Turkish Coast Guard said. Fifteen people were rescued, and a search and rescue mission was underway.
NATO's increased involvement is meant to cut down on such tragedies and to frustrate human smuggling efforts, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. The additional ships being sent to the Aegean will venture into territorial waters of the nations involved.
"The purpose of NATO's deployment is not to stop or push back migrant boats, but to help our allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the European Union, in their efforts to tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks that are fueling this crisis," the military alliance said in a statement.
Turkey is temporary home to an estimated 2 million migrants, most from neighboring Syria who have fled that nation's 5-year-old civil war. European Council president Donald Tusk, the summit's host, said the EU hopes to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take back tens of thousands of economic migrants who continued across the Aegean to Greece but do not qualify for refugee status.
The summit also is expected to provide Greece with more support to handle the influx it faces. The U.N. High Command for Refugees says the situation is continuing to deteriorate, with more than 35,000 migrants now essentially trapped in Greece. More than 13,000 are on or near the border with Macedonia, which has adopted rules aimed at severely limiting the number of people it will allow to cross its border.
A draft summit statement that had not been formally released Sunday said the EU is prepared to pledge full support for Greece, the Associated Press reported.
“This is a collective EU responsibility requiring fast and efficient mobilization,” the draft said, according to AP. Last week, Tusk warned would-be illegal, economic migrants not to try fleeing to Europe.
“Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing," Tusk said. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for sanctions to be imposed on EU countries that refuse to take in their share of migrants.
The EU has launched a program to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on humanitarian aid for migrants in member nations struggling with large numbers of migrants. The program could provide $760 million over the next three years for basic necessities such as food, shelter, clean water and emergency health care.
The plan is aimed at providing a faster and more targeted response. It came after United Nations refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said Europe “is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis."