UK to provide ships to NATO Aegean operation

LONDON

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Monday that the U.K would support NATO operations aimed at tackling irregular migration across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

Royal Navy vessels will support NATO forces in returning refugees and migrants to Turkey.

Ahead of an emergency meeting with Turkish and European leaders in Brussels, the British PM published a statement announcing that UK naval ship RFA Mounts Bay with a Wildcat helicopter would start operations in the coming days.

The amphibious landing ship will identify smugglers taking migrants to Greece and provide information to the Turkish coastguard so they can intercept the boats.

"It’s an opportunity to stop the smugglers and send out a clear message to migrants contemplating journeys to Europe that they will be turned back," Cameron said in the statement.

Cameron will call on European partners to focus on three priorities at the EU summit in Brussels today, the statement added:

"Breaking the link between getting on a boat and getting resettlement in Europe by smashing the trafficking gangs; supporting Turkey, already hosting 2.6 million migrants and with many more sheltering on its border with Syria; and providing technical assistance to Greece so it can accelerate the processing of migrant claims and return illegal migrants to their countries of origin.”

RFA Mounts Bay will join NATO’s first intervention in the migrant crisis alongside Turkish, Canadian, German and Greek ships monitoring specific areas in the Aegean Sea.