Turkey suspends migrant deal with Greece

Turkey suspended its bilateral migrant re-admission deal with Greece in response to a decision by a Greek court to release eight former Turkish soldiers who fled the country a day after the July 2016 coup attempt, according to Hürriyet Daily News. Greece will now no longer be able to send back Syrian refugees to Turkey. The agreement with Greece is the legal backbone of the migrant deal between Turkey and the EU. However, there are also those who argue that the two deals are separate mechanisms and halting the deal with Greece will not affect the deal with the EU. It certainly will add confusion to what we still consider a terrible deal.

The rise in tensions between Turkey and Greece also got the Turkish Navy to send one frigate, two gunboats and an underwater attack team to be on alert in the Aegean sea.