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Deepening tensions between Turkey and the European Union in the wake of a Greek refusal to extradite several coup plotters to Turkey, run the risk of destabilizing the refugee agreement, claimed a report by international political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

The report revealed that Turkey will continue to be the EU's most important partner in managing the flow of migrants and the most important interlocutor over refugees of Europe by hosting over some 3 million potential asylum seekers (including 2.7 million Syrians).

It also pointed to the success of the EU-Turkey refugee deal, to which German Chancellor Angela Merkel invested considerable political capital and identified it as the reason for the decline in migrants entering Europe.

Turkey and the EU signed the refugee deal in March, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea, by taking stricter measures against human traffickers. While Turkey respected the deal and cut down the refugee flow almost entirely from its coasts to the Greek islands, the EU failed to keep up its end of the deal to deliver aid to Syrian refugees and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

According to the report, however, deepening tensions between Turkey and the EU or Turkey and Greece in particular risk destabilizing the agreement. Relations between Turkey and Greece were recently strained after a top Greek court on Thursday refused to extradite eight pro-coup soldiers who fled to Greece after the July 15 coup attempt, which cost the lives 248 people and injured over 2,200 others, while leaving the Turkish Parliament bombed.

Turkish officials have harshly criticized the decision, claiming that it is highly political and disregarding of bilateral and international treaties and that Greece has disappointed Turkey once again by supporting terrorism.

Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu on Friday said Turkey would take the necessary measures against Greece following the court's decision, including cancelling the readmission deal with Greece, which allowed the latter to return illegal migrants, who traveled through Turkey, back to Turkey to be processed before being sent back to their country of origin, reported Turkish state-run news outlet, TRT Haber.

The independent report also stated that in a situation, where Turkey can relax its efforts to halt migrants, to demonstrate the leverage it has over the EU to keep its promise, Greece is at risk of becoming overburdened.

The Turkish Coast Guard has reportedly apprehended over 37,000 migrants in the Aegean, and while this number combined with the number of migrants that have entered Greece is substantially below the record figures from 2015, even a gradual increase of several more tens of thousands of migrants in Greece could severely strain Greece's capacity to deal with migrants and begin to affect politics in the EU.

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Greece's refusal to return putschists may cause new migrant crisis - Daily Sabah