Key EU-Turkey migration deal looks wobbly a year later

In this photo taken on Friday, March 17, 2017 the sun rises as a Greek coast guard vessel patrols on the Aegean Sea near the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. The waters off northern Lesbos once resounded to the shrieks of the drowning, the whine of outboard motors as refugees struggled to reach Europe alive, and the thudding of rescue helicopter engines. A million people crossed the straits between Turkey and Greece’s eastern Aegean islands in the year before March 20, 2016, and hundreds drowned. About half of those who made it landed on this island. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) In this photo taken on Friday, March 17, 2017 the sun rises as a Greek coast guard vessel patrols on the Aegean Sea near the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. The waters off northern Lesbos once resounded to the shrieks of the drowning, the whine of outboard motors as refugees struggled to reach Europe alive, and the thudding of rescue helicopter engines. A million people crossed the straits between Turkey and Greece’s eastern Aegean islands in the year before March 20, 2016, and hundreds drowned. About half of those who made it landed on this island. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

By Associated Press March 17, 2017 5 min read

LESBOS, Greece (AP) – The waters off the Greek island of Lesbos once echoed with the shrieks of people drowning as they struggled to reach Europe, and the thrumming of rescue helicopters.

A coastguard patrol Friday encountered nothing more alarming than a few fishing boats.

A deal between Turkey and the European Union stemmed the flow of migrants who used to come ashore here by the hundreds every day – or died trying to make the crossing from Turkey in flimsy boats.

One year later, that agreement appears at risk amid deteriorating EU-Turkish relations, raising fears that Lesbos once again will become the scene of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The year-old deal enacted hinges on Turkey taking back people detected crossing the Aegean Sea by Greek, EU and NATO ships. But Turkey’s recent diplomatic fight with EU member countries over a referendum on expanding the power of the Turkish president could scuttle it.