Sources: AP
Six people are killed and five people are missing after a boat carrying migrants sinks off the coast of Turkey. 2022-09-13
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hits Greece and Turkey, with an epicentre in the Aegean Sea. Flooding and destruction of houses is reported in Samos, where two people have died, and Izmir, where 20 people have died and 786 injured. 2020-10-30
The European Union proposes visa-free travel for Turkish citizens within Europe's Schengen Area and invites member states and EU lawmakers to endorse the move by June 30. The EU says Turkey has met all but five of the 72 criteria included in the agreement in exchange for its efforts to stop asylum seekers from reaching Europe. This visa deal also needs approval from the European Parliament. 2016-05-4
On Wednesday, the European Union will propose relaxing visa requirements for Turks as a reward for having reduced the flood of refugees and migrants into Europe. 2016-05-2
European Union and Turkish officials agree on how to handle the flood of refugees. The deal, to return irregular migrants to Turkey, includes acceleration of the country's long-stalled bid for membership in the union; billions of euros in extra aid, 3 billion euros now, another 3 billion by 2018; and, visa-free travel for Turks once the country satisfies the EU criteria. Europe will be taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) strongly condemns the deal as "ugly and illegal." The agreement is set to go into effect Sunday, March 20, 2016. 2016-03-18
A boat carrying Iraqi Kurd migrants sinks off the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's Anatolian coast, killing at least 24 people, including several children, with 11 others missing. 2016-01-28
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reports 11 migrants, including three children, drowned, and the Turkish coast guard rescued seven Syrians from a capsized boat headed to the Greek island of Samos. 2015-12-22
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras lashes out at European "ineptness" in handling the continent's massive immigration crisis. The Associated Press reports 31 more people — mostly children — drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea near the islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes. Turkey's state-run agency says four children drowned and two others are missing after two new accidents with boats headed to Greece's Lesbos and Samos islands. The death toll in the Aegean Sea over the past three days is at least 50. The Greek coast guard says they rescued 600 people in the past 24 hours, while thousands more made it safely from Turkey to Greece's southeastern islands. 2015-10-30
Human Rights Watch says unidentified armed men have been disabling boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea traveling from Turkey toward the Greek islands. Witnesses have described eight incidents this month in which masked assailants intercepted and disabled the boats by damaging engines or fuel systems, and in the case of inflatable boats, attempting to puncture hulls. 2015-10-22
The European Union and Turkey reach an agreement for Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe in return for a £3bn aid package, easier visa conditions and re-energised talks to join the bloc. 2015-10-16