MYTILENE, Greece — On the isle of Lesbos, there are now two facilities to house the migrants who risked their lives crossing the sea. The migrants call them the good camp and the bad camp.
The good camp is airy and open, and asylum seekers are getting ready to sail to the Greek mainland, where there is still a chance they may reach their dream destinations in Germany, Sweden or France.
In the bad camp, there is razor wire and a locked gate, and the police are preparing the asylum seekers for a forced ferry ride back to where they came from.
The two transit centers show in stark relief the past and future for migrants clamoring to reach Europe.
It is here that Europe will answer the big questions: Will Greece really send refugees fleeing war and chaos in Syria and Iraq back to Turkey, by force if necessary?
The Europeans say they will — starting Monday.
Greek officials said the first ferries are scheduled to take the first migrants back to Turkey this week. They hope the move stems the tide of newcomers.
Humanitarian organizations, along with the U.N. refugee agency, warn that the returns are being rushed and that Greece could be overwhelmed. The asylum seekers will not get a full hearing, they say. The aid organizations worry that traumatized people may balk at being herded onto boats and sent to uncertain conditions in Turkey.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom was on Lesbos last week to assess the situation. “There is still a lot of work going on to determine how people will be processed and what that will look like,” she said. “We’re eager to see those details as much as everyone else.”
The Greek parliament passed legislation late Friday designed to ease concerns about whether the human rights of asylum seekers would be protected under international law. The asylum amendment bill stated that people will be sent back to a “safe third country” or a “safe first country of asylum” without explicitly designating Turkey as safe.
Tensions are rising. As disturbances broke out at migrant hot spots on the Greek mainland last week, authorities announced plans to send additional police to the islands to keep order. Activists told reporters that Greek police used stun guns on migrants on the nearby island of Chios, where fences were torn down in protest.
In the good camp on Lesbos, where the last hundred migrants are waiting for a ferry ride to the Greek mainland, the residents still can dream of making it to the heart of Europe. These asylum seekers were smuggled to the Greek island from Turkey before Europe shut the door to new arrivals on March 20.
The camp is spotless, with fresh herbs growing in flower boxes and a quartet of Greek musicians serenading the residents, who are smothered with help from a dozen humanitarian aid groups.
“We don’t call them ‘refugees.’ They are our guests,” said Stavros Myrogiannis, manager of the Kara Tepe site, correcting a visitor. He seemed sad to see them go.
This is the Europe with open arms, the Europe of 2015.
Myrogiannis estimated that, over the past six months, he has “hosted” hundreds of thousands of “travelers” from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who made the perilous trip across the Aegean Sea.
Asked what he thought when he learned that the people of Lesbos and the other Greek islands were to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their acts of charity, Myrogiannis waved away the flattery.
“We acted like human beings,” he said. “That is enough.”
A few miles away, at the bad camp, life and prospects for the future are far less sunny. Thousands of migrants are detained behind high fences at a former military base near the village of Moria. The toilets are overwhelmed, the asylum seekers complain, and the food is disgusting now that aid organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the International Rescue Committee pulled out in protest, refusing to work at what they called a “detention” facility.
This is Europe 2016. These are the migrants who had the misfortune to arrive in Greece after March 19.
“I am living in a prison,” said Mohammad Al Balkhi, 21, a Syrian college student from Damascus, who stood by the fence, amid a pile of cigarette butts, speaking with a reporter before a police patrol shooed his visitor away.
“Get us out of here,” he said. He seemed amazed that the difference of a day or two would determine his fate.
