Macedonia returns Syrian, Iraqi migrants to Greece

A total of 49 migrants from the transit center Tabanovce in Macedonia, near the border with Serbia, were transported to the Greek border on Thursday and turned in to the Greek authorities.

According to the Macedonian interior ministry, the migrants entered Macedonian territory illegally and were stuck in the transition center Tabanovce after the closing of the so-called Balkan route. Forty-two were Syrians and seven were Iraqis, the interior ministry confirmed in a written statement issued on Thursday afternoon.

"The whole procedure of readmission in Greece was initiated in September 2016 and was realized in accordance to the agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Macedonia. We conducted the procedure after we received a positive response from the Greek side that it was willing to accept them."

The NGOs working with the migrants in the transit centers said some of the people that were transported to Greece had been stuck in Tabanovce for almost a year.

A number of migrants still remain in the two transition centers on Macedonian territory. According to the latest data, around 40 migrants are still in Tabanovce on the border with Serbia, while approximately 60 are in the camp Vinojug near Gevgelija on the border with Greece.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants from conflict areas in the Middle East and Africa had used the Balkan route until its closure in March 2016. Since the closing of the route, the number of attempts to illegally transit through Macedonia has increased.

Overall, the European Union (EU) has allocated nearly 19 million euros (20.27 million U.S. dollars) over the last year to help the country cope with the refugee crisis. Endit