• 65 Syrian refugees, one Iraqi arrived to Madrid from Turkish, Greek camps
• Spain has now resettled 200 refugees, part of 2015 EU pledge to take 16,000
Two groups totaling 66 refugees from camps in Greece and Turkey arrived to Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport on Wednesday, bringing to 200 the total number of refugees accepted by Spain for resettlement this year as part of a 2015 agreement it signed with the European Union to take some 16,000 refugees.
A first flight of 37 refugees from Greece Wednesday morning included 13 men, seven women and 17 children, all Syrians except for one Iraqi, who will be sheltered by refugee assistance organisations working with government agencies in Guadalajara, Barcelona, Madrid, Vizcaya, Valencia and Asturias. A second group of Syrian refugees on Wednesday afternoon, including five men, five women and 19 children, were the first to arrive to Spain camps in Turkey and are scheduled to be relocated to Lleida, León, Burgos and Sevilla with the assistance of Spanish pro-refugee organisations.
According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, the government has agreed to keep to the pledge made under the terms of the 2015 EU agreement to resettle 16,000 refugees by the end of 2017. The government has said previously it expected to relocate 586 refugees from temporary camps in Greece and Turkey by July of this year.
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