Turkey’s Coast Guard Command saved the lives of irregular migrants in the Aegean Sea after they were illegally pushed to the Turkish side by Greek forces, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.
A Turkish navy drone on July 29 recorded footage of Greek forces pushing two boats carrying irregular migrants to the coast of Çeşme in Izmir province, the ministry said in a tweet.
The situation was immediately reported to the Turkish Coast Guard Command and the migrants were rescued, it added.
Ankara and international human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum-seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable people, including women and children.
Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross to Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution in their countries. The country already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world.
Most recently, it was reported Thursday that the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, has deliberately and systematically cooperated with Greece in illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers to Turkish waters in the Aegean Sea.
A 129-page investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) found that Frontex, under former executive director Fabrice Leggeri, was complicit in Greek efforts to force migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the Aegean Sea to return to Turkey, German magazine Der Spiegel wrote.
The confidential report was also seen by France’s Le Monde newspaper and investigative outfit Lighthouse Reports. It follows repeated allegations by aid groups that Frontex was turning a blind eye to Greek human rights violations at sea.
The report said that Frontex, under the administration of Frenchman Leggeri, who quit in April under pressure from the European Parliament and rights groups, covered up pushbacks by Greece, deliberately lied to the European Parliament and covered up the fact that European taxpayers’ money was used to finance the pushbacks.
“Instead of preventing the pushbacks, Leggeri and his people covered them up. They lied to the EU Parliament and concealed the fact that the agency even supported some pushbacks with European taxpayers’ money,” Spiegel wrote.
The report exposed that Frontex officers did not report the actions in an attempt to avoid provoking reactions from Greek officials even when they became aware or witnessed illegal pushbacks.
“Incidents were not reported through official channels as Frontex-deployed staff feared retaliation from Greek authorities,” it said.
The OLAF review found that at least six pushback incidents involved Greek coast guard ships that had been co-financed by Frontex, the magazine said.
In one incident in August 2020, Frontex surveillance aircraft filmed the Greek coast guard towing a dinghy with around 30 migrants on board toward Turkish waters – when they should have been taken to Greece.
Instead of confronting Greek authorities, Frontex stopped patrolling the Aegean by air, saying the planes were needed elsewhere, Spiegel wrote.
A hand-written note found later by OLAF investigators said that Frontex management withdrew the aircraft “so as not to become a witness” to Greece’s illegal actions.
The Greek government has consistently denied the allegations of pushbacks.
Human rights advocates and leading media outlets have frequently reported illegal pushbacks and other rights breaches by Greek authorities that have violated EU and international law.
Greece intercepts boats transporting migrants and asylum-seekers heading to its eastern islands from the nearby coast of Turkey. Human rights organizations allege the country carries out summary deportations, known as pushbacks, which the Greek government denies.
In addition to seaborne pushbacks, Greek border forces are also accused of apprehending and forcibly expelling migrants who cross into the country by land.
In February, at least 19 migrants were found frozen to death near the Turkish-Greek border after being pushed back to Turkey by Greece.
Officials in Ankara have criticized Athens for the inhumane and degrading treatment of irregular migrants, saying those who were found dead had been stripped of their clothes and shoes by the Greek border guards. Greece has denied any involvement.
