ANKARA: Spain's interior minister has said his country will take in 182 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy in the coming weeks.

Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg Thursday, Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Spain would accept 150 asylum seekers from Greece and 32 from Italy once they had been security vetted. He said they would arrive between the end of this month and the beginning of May.

Spain, Fernandez Diaz said, will also take in 385 Syrian refugees returned to Turkey. He gave no details as to when.

The minister said Spanish authorities were doing all they could to speed up taking in refugees after the country came in for criticism on the issue.