Hundreds of migrants march out of Greek camp, cross to Macedonia

Reuters, Moin :
Hundreds of migrants marched out of a Greek transit camp, hiked for hours along muddy paths and crossed a rain-swollen river to get around a border fence and cross into Macedonia, where 700 migrants were detained on Tuesday, authorities said.
European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was set to visit the camp at Idomeni at around midday on Tuesday.
Giorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for Greece’s migration coordination agency, said the hundreds who managed to cross the border Monday were still in Macedonia after they were intercepted by the Macedonian army.
“If the authorities ask us to take them back, we will examine the request,” Kyritsis told public broadcaster ERT.
A group of around 80 journalists and activists who were detained by Macedonian police after travelling with the group, including an AFP video journalist, were released and allowed to return to Greece, Kyritsis added.
A local Greek police source said Macedonian authorities had pushed back groups of migrants from unguarded parts of the border during the night.
ERT reported that dozens who were blocked from entering Macedonia from the Greek side of a river were heading back to Idomeni after tramping through the night in the cold and rain, carrying children and babies.
Greek authorities said the migrants who tried to breach the border on Monday — around 1,500 in total, according to media — had read leaflets in Arabic describing the route across the river.
The document warned migrants that they risk being sent back to Turkey if they stay in Greece, the ANA news agency reported.
Dozens of Greek police had tried to block the route, before giving up because of the size of the crowd.
Meanwhile, EU President Donald Tusk headed for talks Tuesday in both Nicosia and Ankara as part of a bid to finalise terms of an EU deal with Turkey to curb the flow of migrants to Europe, EU sources said.
The president of the European Council, who will host a new EU-Turkey summit in Brussels at the end of the week, will meet early Tuesday in Nicosia with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, an EU source told AFP.
Tusk will then travel on to Ankara for talks later the same day with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who is due to attend the two-day summit starting on Thursday, the source added.

With Europe facing its worst migration crisis since World War II, Davutoglu and EU leaders agreed a tentative new plan at a Brussels summit on March 7 to try to stem the flow of migrants and refugees.

Under the draft deal, the EU agreed to resettle one Syrian refugee from camps in Turkey for every Syrian readmitted by Ankara from Greek islands.

The controversial plan is designed to eliminate incentives for migrants to come to Greece by boat.

But Cypriot officials said Anastasiades has reservations, not least as Turkey expects the accord to accelerate its bid for EU membership and ease visa requirements in Europe’s passport-free Schengen area.

The European Council website said Tusk’s visit to Cyprus comes in the “context” of clinching an EU-Turkey deal on migrants.

Ankara does not recognise the divided Mediterranean island’s internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government and Cyprus has blocked six key parts of Turkey’s negotiations for EU membership since 2009, effectively halting the process.

The Cyprus government insists Turkey must first meet its longstanding demands for recognition.

The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

The European Council website said Tusk would “take forward” the proposals that emerged during the March 7 summit and “work out the details with the Turkish side before” the new summit.