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Greece scrambles to implement EU-Turkey migrant deal

19 March 2016 18:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Greece scrambled Saturday to begin the massive task of implementing an historic EU-Turkey migrant deal aimed at stemming the flow of refugees fleeing war and conflict in the Middle East, APA reports quoting AFP.

A key part of the agreement will take effect from Sunday midnight when all migrants arriving on the Greek islands will be designated for return to Turkey, a Greek government source told AFP.

Hundreds of security and legal experts are set to arrive in Greece to help with the task, described as "Herculean" by the head of the EU's executive arm.

Ahead of the deadline, authorities reported around 1,500 people have crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece's islands in the past 24 hours, more than double the day before and compared with just several hundred per day earlier in the week.

With over 40,000 migrants already in Greece, the debt-hit country could not take on this new task without major assistance from its European partners, including the immediate deployment of 2,300 experts, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said.