EU to keep track of Turkey refugee deal violations

European Union officials will keep a close eye on any violations of a controversial deal made with Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees into Europe.

An EU delegation to Turkey, led by the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, stressed "the importance of respecting humanitarian law and international agreements".

It comes after the deal faced mounting criticism from human rights groups, which some have amounted to "horse trading" with human lives. 

For every Syrian refugee sent back to Turkey from Greece, another would be resettled in the EU with numbers capped at 72,000, according to the deal.

"The Turkish authorities endorse these principles, and that is of key importance. We will keep a very close eye on this," Koenders added.

The Istanbul visit - which includes ministers and state secretaries from France, Malta, Italy, Slovakia and Portugal - comes a week after Greece began implementing its part of the deal.

Last week, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the deal would not be implemented if the EU failed to meet their side of the bargain.

"Reports of abuse should be carefully dealt with and the European Commission must be given the chance to examine these reports before any conclusions are drawn," said Koenders.

"We are going to stop human trafficking, we are preventing people from risking their lives at sea and we are creating a fair and safe route for refugees to come to Europe."

Amnesty International has accused EU leaders of "wilfully ignoring the simplest of facts: Turkey is not a safe country for Syrian refugees and is getting less safe by the day".

The International Rescue Committee's Greece country director Panos Navrozidi described the deal as "illogical and unethical" adding it "focuses on borders, not people".

"By and large the people who have made this journey to Europe are fleeing war. They need to be assured due process. They need to have a rigorous and thorough hearing of their claims," he added.

Meanwhile, Germany has announced a sharp drop in asylum claims.

New arrivals to Germany have dropped by more than 60 percent in the three months compared with the last quarter of 2015 to 170,000 from more than 500,000, according to the German foreign minister.

European countries have come under stinging criticism for the treatment of refugees who have reached Europe's shores, which many have amounted to racism.

On Monday, a video emerged showing Bulgarians making a "citizens arrest" of three refugees.

The three refugees were seen on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs in what has been described "the most brutal citizen's arrest" in Bulgaria so far, the Helsinki Committee human rights organisation said.

Meanwhile, Macedonian police have also been condemned for using tear gas and firing rubber bullets at refugees trying to cross the border.