Sunday morning, 6:30 am: a plastic dingy struggles against the waves while the wind is blowing with intensity of 7 Beaufort. 50 people on board are in panic. Twenty meters away from the shore of Galazio on the island of Samos, the boat capsizes. Men, women and children fall into the cold water. The angry waves cover the bodies of at least 6 children and 5 women. Only 15 people get rescued. The rest of the passengers is missing. It is one more tragedy, the daily tragedy occurring in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey.
While the European Union is getting lost in bureaucracy, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to visit Turkey and discuss the Refugee Crisis with President Recep Tayyip Erdogann and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
According to daily Naftermporiki, Tsipras’ visit will take place in the coming days. The Greek Prime Minister is pushing for a European solution to the Refugee Crisis and raised objections that Turkey was not invited to the Brussels Summit on the issue. His visit to Ankara aims to explore possibilities for the resettlement of the refugees.
Speaking at the Parliament on Friday, Tsipras announced the Greek initiative on the matter saying that the government will take steps to avoid the creation of a German-Turkish axis that will risk to reload the whole burden on the shoulders of Greece.
“We do not intend to let Mrs. Merkel to negotiate with Turkey on part of Europe. We are Turkey’s European neighbors and we must be the ones who will take initiatives in the process of the necessary dialogue with Turkey, ” Tsipras said.
The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, is expected in Athens. He will go visit ‘refugees’ on Lesvos together with Alexis Tsipras.