Turkey accuses Greece of pushing back migrants once again

The Turkish coast guard said in a press statement it has rescued a total of 122 migrants who were pushed back by Greek authorities into Turkish territorial waters.

Turkey said its coast guard picked up 87 migrants from a boat off the coast of Karaburun district, in the Izmir region, and 35 migrants on a small boat off the coast of Menderes, also in the Izmir region, in the statement released Monday (December 11).

The migrants were then transported to the provincial migration department, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

This is not the first time Turkey has claimed to have rescued migrants pushed back by Greek authorities. It is a claim that Greece repeatedly denies.

Alleged pushbacks

However, numerous rights groups have provided testimonies, pictures and sometimes videos of these alleged pushbacks. In May, EU authorities called on Greece to launch an independent inquiry after video footage purporting to show a forced pushback was released.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who is responsible for migration in the bloc, said that officials in her department had issued Athens a formal request to investigate the incident fully and independently, reported The Guardian at the time.

The footage was filmed by an Austrian activist on the Greek island of Lesbos and shared with American newspaper The New York Times. In the video, 12 people, including men, women and children, appear to be towed out to sea and abandoned on an inflatable raft after being picked up by a van on an island.

The New York Times tracked down 11 of the migrants at a detention center in Izmir.

Nearly 300,000 ‘prevented from entrance’ to Greece in 2022

The Greek Council for Refugees noted in a country report that “a total of 230,993 third-country nationals in 6,736 incidents were ‘prevented from entrance’ in Greece in just the first 10 months of 2022.”

Overall, the country’s Ministry of Public Order said, “256,000 persons were prevented from ‘illegal invasion’ in 2022.”

The Greek Refugee Council stated in its report that “cases of alleged pushbacks have been systematically reported in 2022, as was the case in 2021.”

They noted that the “persisting practice of alleged pushbacks has been reported inter alia by UNHCR, IOM, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the Council of Europe Commissioner and civil society organizations.”

The Greek Refugee Council said that Greece carried out an investigation into the allegations in May 2022 and found no evidence. However, the investigation carried out by the National Transparency Authority (NTA) has been criticized itself “for lacking expertise … and failing to act [as] an independent body.”

Deficiencies in investigation, says Greek Refugee Council

The Refugee Council noted that the investigation did not consult any alleged victim of pushbacks, representatives of UN agencies or the ombudsman of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights.

The report noted that “in 2022, the practice of refoulements continued to be used as a ‘front-line’ tool of the country’s migration policy to halt the flow of refugees and to deter others from attempting to irregularly cross the borders.”

With Anadolu Agency