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Italy’s Lampedusa ‘at Point of No Return’ with Migrants, Mayor Says 

Migrants wait at the port to be transferred to the mainland, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 14, 2023. (Reuters)
Migrants wait at the port to be transferred to the mainland, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 14, 2023. (Reuters)
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Italy’s Lampedusa ‘at Point of No Return’ with Migrants, Mayor Says 

Migrants wait at the port to be transferred to the mainland, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 14, 2023. (Reuters)
Migrants wait at the port to be transferred to the mainland, on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 14, 2023. (Reuters)

The small Italian island of Lampedusa is being overwhelmed by the numbers of migrants arriving on its shores after thousands of people landed from North Africa on boats over the past two days, its mayor said on Thursday.

Lampedusa sits in the Mediterranean between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island of Sicily and is a first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach the European Union.

"In the past 48 hours, around 7,000 people have arrived in Lampedusa, which has always welcomed them with open arms," mayor Filippo Mannino told Italy's RTL 102.5 radio.

"However, we have now reached a point of no return and the island is in crisis," he said.

"Europe and the Italian state must step in immediately with a rapid support operation and swift transfer of people."

The island normally has a population of just over 6,000.

Some migrants on the island placed towels over their heads to shield themselves from the late summer sun as they waited to be processed by the Italian authorities.

Footage from earlier in the week showed queues of flimsy boats, full of migrants, waiting to dock at Lampedusa's port. The island's reception center has an official capacity of around 400.

Hundreds of migrants were transferred to Porto Empedocle in Sicily on an overnight ferry where they were greeted by volunteers handing out food.

The arrivals are a headache for Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government which took power last October with a promise to crack down on immigration.

Meloni has sought to improve ties with Tunisia, from where most of the boats are now leaving, and in July Tunis and the European Union signed a pact aimed at stemming migrant flows.

An Italian foreign ministry spokesman had no immediate comment when asked why the deal, which pledged 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) of EU money to help Tunisia's battered economy, was failing to produce results on migration.

Since the start of the year, almost 124,000 sea migrants have landed on Italian shores, almost double the number recorded in the same period in 2022.

The German government said on Wednesday it had suspended an agreement with Italy to voluntarily take in refugees, accusing Rome of failing to honor its side of the bargain.

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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".