NATO sends ships to Aegean on refugee mission
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched a naval mission in the Aegean Sea in what is seen as a move to stop the influx of refugees into Europe.
The move came after NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels on Thursday at an earlier request for help by Greece, Turkey and Germany to deal with the refugee crisis in Europe.
The alliance will now deploy at least three warships under German command. Germany currently leads the three-ship NATO force in the eastern Mediterranean.
The alliance says it seeks to focus on monitoring the refugee flows and carrying out surveillance as well as gathering intelligence to help Greece and Turkey end human trafficking. NATO also seeks to serve as a deterrent to refugees trying to make the dangerous crossing.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that the mission does not aim to stop refugees from reaching Europe but to tackle human trafficking.
“This is not about stopping and pushing back (refugee boats)... but about critical surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks,” Stoltenberg said.
He said NATO is “now directing the standing maritime group to move into the Aegean without delay and start maritime surveillance activities.”
Stoltenberg said the refugee crisis, driven by foreign-backed conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa, posed a major security threat to the 28-nation alliance as it faces new challenges in Europe driven by the Ukraine crisis.
German Defense Minister Ursula Von der Leyen said that “several NATO members had pledged ships” for the mission.
Sources say the NATO force would eventually comprise five to seven ships.
Turkey was the main transit route for the more than one million refugees who reached Europe last year. Most of the refugees reached Greece before heading to Germany and other richer countries.
The stream of refugees has triggered the worst such crisis the continent has seen in decades. Most of those refugees are from war-ravaged and poverty-stricken countries in the Middle East and Africa, with many saying EU powers are also to blame for the unprecedented exodus as they have done little to contain the problems in those regions.
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