EU and Turkey agreement on deporting migrants and visas 16 December 2013 Last updated at 10:20 Turkey and the EU have signed a deal enabling EU countries to send back illegal migrants who entered the 28-nation bloc via Turkey. The deal also establishes a roadmap for lifting visa requirements for Turks travelling to the EU. Visa-free status is expected in three years' time. Turkey is a major transit country for Asians and Africans heading for the EU. Ankara has set up special camps for thousands of Syrian refugees, but other migrants often face great hardship. Neighbouring Greece, where migrant reception centres are overcrowded, stepped up security on its land border with Turkey in August 2012. But the EU border agency Frontex says detections of illegal migrants on boats in the Aegean Sea, between Turkey and Greece, increased by 912% later that year. In the past, human rights organisations, including the UN refugee agency UNHCR, have strongly criticised Greece and Italy for "push-backs" - a policy of sending migrants back to their point of departure. Under international law, groups of migrants are supposed to be checked for legitimate asylum claims. Bulgaria, an EU member, has struggled to cope with large numbers of illegal migrants arriving from Turkey. Bulgaria is not in the EU's Schengen passport-free zone, where border checks are minimal, but Greece is. The new deal was signed in Ankara by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bagis and EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper says they narrowed their differences only after Ankara was assured that it could suspend the Re-admission Agreement in the event that an EU member country blocked visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.