German MPs are urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to sign another migration deal with Turkish President Erdoğan, who is allowing migrants to board planes to Belgrade, where they are smuggled into Europe’s Schengen Area.
This route is in contrast to Turkey’s border with Greece, where migrants must scale border fences and evade police. Once in Belgrade, Serbian authorities do little to prevent migrants from proceeding northward, often to Germany. In September, Germany’s Federal Police recorded 1,970 cases of human trafficking, with 406 detected along Germany’s border with the Czech Republic. A significant increase in container smuggling along the Balkan route was recorded by German authorities in the third quarter of 2023. It is unclear where exactly migrants are originating from and what documentation they have. Andrej Mitic, the International Secretary of the Serbian national-conservative Dveri party, believes that Aleksandar Vučić’s government’s failure to adequately police illegal migratory movements represents a „breach of the Serbian constitution and its law.” Mitic also argues that the mainstream press in Serbia has refused to cover the ongoing problem, shielding the government from public scrutiny.
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
Turks Found to be Flying to Belgrade and Migrating to EU From Serbia
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