KABUL - Refugee and Repatriation minister Sayed Hussain Alami Balkhi on Monday said the situation of Afghan refugees based in Turkey and Greece was getting better.
He told a press conference in Kabul that a commission for addressing refugees’ problems was expected to be created jointly between Afghanistan and Greece in near future.
Balkhi said Afghan refugees in Turkey and Greece who reached there using illegal  faced with many problems.
The minister said he had attended the sixth Ministerial Conference of the Budapest Process in Istanbul, where 72 countries representatives were present
The conference discussed prevention of irregular migrations, rooting out smuggling gangs, providing conditions for legal migration and facilities for return of refugees and reacceptance of refugees.
He said two important agreements under Istanbul Commitments and an a five-year action program for protection of refugees and their rights were also signed during the conference.
Balkhi said he also had meetings with Turkish authorities on the sidelines of the conference and Turkish officials promised that Afghan refugees would be no longer forcibly deported to their country and instead would be provided with needed facilities.
Afghans who plan to voluntary return to their country from Turkey would be provided work opportunities in Afghanistan by the Red Crescent Society and Tika, a Turkish company, he said.
Balkhi said the situation of Afghan refugees based in Turkey and Greece was improving compared to their situation in the last two years and a joint committee for addressing Afghan migrants’ problems between Afghanistan and Greece was expected to be created in near future.
Currently 16,000 Afghan refugees live in Greece as some of them are accepted while others are rejected or are in waiting list, he concluded. (Pajhwok)