By LORNE COOK Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) – „The European Union wants Turkey to explain how human traffickers could have taken two cargo ships filled with migrants out of the country and sent them toward Italy without Turkish authorities noticing. […] Bertaud said contacts with Turkey are happening at the „political and technical level.“ […] Turkey’s Foreign Ministry didn’t have an immediate response. Weiterlesen »
„Ankara – Turkey has urged all Turkish citizens remaining in Libya to leave „quickly“ due to the deteriorating security situation in the conflict-torn country.Turkey on Wednesday condemned as „unacceptable“ and „irresponsible“ a statement allegedly made by the Libyan Air Force in a Facebook post warning all Turkish civilian and military planes would be shot down should they enter Libyan air space.“We advise once more our remaining citizens in Libya to quickly leave because of the unstable security situation and negative developments… in recent weeks,“ the foreign ministry said in a statement.The warning came after Turkish Airlines suspended flights to Misrata this week, its only remaining destination in Libya after it had earlier pulled its flights to the capital Tripoli as well as Benghazi and the inland desert city of Sebha. […]“
MADRID – The number of illegal immigrants seeking entry to European Union soared in 2014 to an all-time record of 270,000, with Italy and Greece as their preferred destinations, according to the EU border agency, Frontex.
IOM
Italy – The spectre of large, disposable crafts bearing hundreds of migrants across dangerous waters in the new year was borne out in terrifying fashion this past week as more than 1,000 migrants, most fleeing Syria, had to be rescued in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to survivors’ accounts, the crews of both vessels deliberately abandoned men, women and children aboard, setting courses for the Italian coastline despite the very real possibility that hundreds might drown.
Winter used to bring some respite for those agencies responsible for controlling Europe’s long Mediterranean borders. For each of the last ten years, irregular migration has slowed or even stopped in the run-up to Christmas, with the people smugglers largely confined to port by the rough seas. Not any more, it seems.
Facebook
The Times
Tom Kington Rome
A 27-year-old woman in Sicily has emerged as the unlikely saviour of thousands of Syrians who risk their lives sailing through winter storms in the Mediterranean to escape the civil war devastating their country.
As they drift in unpiloted ships, often without fuel or food and buffeted by giant waves, many migrants use the last credit on their phones to seek assistance from Nawal Soufi, an Italian-Moroccan activist based in Catania, who is known among Syrians as “Lady SOS”. Weiterlesen »
Sofia a décidé de prolonger de 130 kilomètres le „mur“ anti-migrants, érigé le long de sa frontière avec la Turquie. Cette clôture de séparation a pour but de stopper l’afflux de réfugiés, principalement syriens, fuyant la guerre civile.
Le 17 juillet dernier, le ministre bulgare de la Défense, Anguel Naydenov, s’était montré embarrassé. „Je ne suis pas fier de cette clôture“, avait-il déclaré aux médias. Naydenov parlait alors de ce mur de barbelés de trois mètres de haut, construit le long d’une partie de la frontière avec la Turquie, à l’été 2014. Le but : stopper l’afflux d’immigrés clandestins, pour la plupart des Syriens fuyant les combats dans leur pays. Les autorités peuvent se targuer d’avoir réussi leur projet : depuis la mise en place de ce „mur de séparation“ de 30 kilomètres, érigé dans la zone du mont de Strandja (région d’Elhovo, sud-ouest) par „où passent environ 85 %“ des migrants, selon le gouvernement bulgare, l’afflux a quasiment stoppé.
Warum Mersin ein Zentrum des Menschenschmuggels ist.
„[…] Dass sich Mersin offenbar zu einem Umschlagplatz für den einträglichen Handel mit der Hoffnung auf ein besseres Leben entwickelt hat, ist kein Zufall. Die südanatolische Hafenstadt mit ihren mehr als 800.000 Einwohnern ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem Magneten für Flüchtlinge aus Syrien geworden. Die Stadt hat viele wohlhabende, gut vernetzte Händler aus Aleppo angezogen, die inzwischen einen Teil des lokalen Geschäftslebens dominieren. Weiterlesen »
Sparlare
ROMA C’è un doppio canale di trattativa aperto dall’Italia per fermare i mercantili carichi di migranti che arrivano dalla Turchia. Uno si rivolge direttamente alle autorità di Ankara e ha già avuto un primo contatto “tecnico» a Roma nei giorni scorsi per trovare una linea comune in modo da fronteggiare partenze e arrivi. L’altro mira alla Grecia e alla necessità che vengano pattugliate in maniera più efficace quelle coste, ma anche che i natanti schierati nel mar Ionio rispondano agli Sos lanciati dagli scafisti per costringere i mezzi di soccorso ad andare a prendere gli stranieri quando sono in balia delle onde.
Out of the hold of the Ezadeen, 360 Syrians emerged, towed to shore after smugglers abandoned the controls
Syrian migrants from the Ezadeen in Corigliano Calabro harbour on Saturday. The rescue operation marks a new phase in people smuggling. Photograph: Antonino Condorelli /Reuters
The man on crutches from Homs was in no doubt about the message he wanted to send to the world.
While he waited to be handed a bag of food and a bottle of water in this southern Italian port, he turned to the handful of reporters left on the quayside and shouted in a loud and resonant voice: “Italia – good. Thank you, Italia. Thank you very much. All Italia … Good!”
