The NATO mission to control migrant traffickers in the Aegean could be launched on Friday after planning now underway at NATO is complete, German defence ministry spokesman Michael Henjes said on Wednesday.
“The NATO mission is already in the Aegean but NATO’s action with respect to this unit has not yet begun because planning is still underway…” Henjes clarified. He clarified that it would be a reconnaissance and surveillance mission monitoring international waters in the area “in the sense that no executive measures are foreseen.”
“I believe that the results of this planning may possibly be presented to the NATO council tonight...,” the spokesman added.
He added the unit will operate under Germany’s command and that the flagship “Bonn” was now at Souda port in Crete.
Turkey willing to take back refugees
On the return of refugees to Turkey, Henjes noted that the use of this action unit in the Aegean was an “initiative of Germany, Turkey and Greece”, in the framework of which Turkey had expressed willingness to take back refugees coming from Turkey.
“NATO is now working out all the legal details but it is important to repeat that this is a mission for reconnaissance and to send information to the appropriate organisations of Greece and Turkey, simply to give information. If there is any kind of reception (of refugees) then that could only – and this is entirely hypothetical – occur in the framework of an emergency rescue at sea,” he said.
NATO agrees Aegean mission
NATO allies have agreed to a plan for their ships in the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece counter criminal networks smuggling refugees into Europe.
After late night talks in Brussels, NATO envoys set out how ships sent to the Aegean in early February can work with Turkish and Greek coastguards and the European Union border agency Frontex to rescue refugees at sea and return them to Turkey.
“Greek and Turkish forces will not operate in each other’s territorial waters and airspace,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement following.
Relations between Greece and Turkey have traditionally been tense and since the Feb. 11 deal by NATO defence ministers to deploy ships to the Aegean, Greece’s defence minister has accused Turkey of trying to undermine the deal.
Sail in Territorial waters
NATO diplomats said one of the issues was where Greek and Turkish ships should patrol and whether that would set a precedent for claims over disputed territorial waters.
Stoltenberg said other NATO vessels will be able to sail in the territorial waters of Greece and Turkey.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sought the NATO mission to help tackle Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War Two. More than a million asylum-seekers arrived last year.
The European Union is relying on Turkey to help stem the flows of Syrians fleeing civil war, giving Ankara 3 billion euros to set up camps and help take in more refugees, although progress in implementing the deal has been slow.
Germany hopes that unlike the EU’s mission off the Italian coast, which brings rescued migrants to Europe’s shores, NATO will return migrants to Turkey even if they are picked up in Greek waters, effectively sealing the border.
“In case of rescue of persons coming via Turkey, they will be taken back to Turkey,” Stoltenberg said.
Minister: Agreement with NATO reached
The Greek Minister of National Defense Panagiotis Kammenos announced that the NATO agreement for patrols in the Aegean Sea has been reached and that the alliance vessels to participate in the operations are on their way over.
“Regarding NATO, the agreement was reached yesterday at 2:30am and the NATO ships are already coming to ensure that anyone rescued in Greek or Turkish waters will be returned to Turkey” stated the Minister from the stand.
Mr. Kammenos made the announcement in Parliament, in response to a question posed by PASOK MP Dimitris Kremastinos regarding the refueling of Prime Minister’s aircraft in Rhodes.
Furthermore, Mr. Kammenos confirmed that the NATO agreement includes the Dodecanese and argued that the “information” suggesting otherwise was disseminated by neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.
The Minister of Shipping Theodoros Dritsas commented that many aspects of the agreement have not yet been clarified, particularly in technical matters such as the identification and supervision of illegal crossings.
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