Greece: Reported pushbacks despite intervention of European court
Source: InfoMigrants: reliable and verified news for migrants – InfoMigrants
A group of around 50 Syrian migrants were reportedly stuck around the Evros river border between Greece and Turkey for the last three weeks. On August 2, the European Court of Human Rights intervened, ordering Greece to provide them with food, water and medical help. Now Alarm Phone reports the group has been “pushed back to Turkey.”
The organization Alarm Phone, which monitors migrant journeys towards Europe, has been posting about a group of around 45-50 Syrian migrants who have been stuck in and around the Evros river border between Turkey and Greece since the middle of July.
It started when on July 22, Alarm Phone tweeted that it was in contact with a group “of 45 people stranded on an islet in the wider Soufli Tychero area.” Alarm Phone said the group told them they had already been there for nine days.
By August 2, Alarm Phone applied to the European Court of Human Rights, to make sure that the Greek authorities supplied the group with food, water and medical assistance. The ECHR acknowledged the application and issued an interim measure, asking the government of Greece to not remove the migrants from Greece “until further notice” and also to provide them with “food, water and adequate medical care as needed.”
Authorities arrive
Following the court’s interim decision, Alarm Phone tweeted that the group had told them that Greek authorities had arrived.
However, by August 3, Alarm Phone said that they had again spoken to the “people in distress” and they had told them they were “in a car and fear being brought back to Turkey.”
Alarm Phone then posed the rhetorical question, asking whether there was a “pushback in the making?” They claimed that the Greek police had stopped accepting their calls and were “pretending not to know about the case.”
At the beginning of July, the ECHR had asked Greece to intervene in another case of a group of 28 migrants stuck on an islet on the river Evros. Despite the order, the migrants were reportedly sent back to Turkey.
‘Attacked by mercenaries’
The group claims that while being stuck on the Evros islet, they were repeatedly “attacked by unidentified individuals”, whom they described as “mercenaries”. The group told Alarm Phone the individuals were wearing military style uniforms but had no clear defining marks to say to which state or organization they might belong.
The group also said they had, at one point, made it onto Greek territory but had been stopped from staying, and ended up back on the islet. Two weeks ago, they already claimed they had no drinking water and that their mobile phone batteries were nearly running out.
Also read: EU border ‘pushbacks’, a shadow migration policy?
‘Serious distress’
A spokesperson for Alarm Phone told InfoMigrants French that “after some time being stuck on the island, the group were clearly in a state of serious distress.” In a video, Alarm Phone said they could see that at least one man had an injured leg and that a pregnant woman was lying back, “visibly exhausted.”
After Alarm Phone raised the alarm with the Greek authorities, the Greek side said they could not find the group. The spokesperson for Alarm Phone said that “since this area is highly militarized, it is difficult to imagine that anything can go on here without a government’s say-so.”
At the moment, it is unclear whether, if any, pushback has taken place, and which side, Greek or Turkish, may have carried it out. Both sides accuse the other in cases like this of perpetrating pushbacks. In the past, a retired Greek policeman has confirmed to InfoMigrants French that he himself pushed back around 2,000 migrants to Turkey in the past.
Since 2020, the Evros area has effectively become a sort of no-man’s land, militarized with a number of patrols operated by Frontex units and military from both Greek and Turkish sides. Journalists and NGOs are prevented from getting too close to the area.
Also read: At the Evros river border, the bodies mount up
Pushed back despite intervention?
On Friday (August 4) in the morning, Alarm Phone reported that the group had indeed been “pushed back despite interim measures [issued by the ECHR].” Alarm Phone said that this was “outrageous” and “unjust.” Alarm Phone also called on the European border agency Frontex to react, tweeting “Frontex: where were you, when your partner carried out the attack?”
By Friday lunchtime, Alarm Phone had tweeted that some of the people in the group had told them they had been “brutally attacked, including sexual violence against two women and two men were beaten up so badly, the group fears for their lives.” Alarm Phone said the group said the two who were allegedly beaten up had been “separated from the group” and are now “missing.” Alarm Phone called for an end to the “violence and hostility” towards migrants.
There has not yet been a statement from Greece’s new Minister of Migration Dimitris Kairidis. On August 2, according to the ministry’s press released, Kairides met with the Panhellenic Federation of Border Guards to discuss the management of migration, but no mention was made of any particular groups on the Evros river.
In general when faced with accusations of this nature, the Greek authorities deny acting outside European or international law and deny operating any kind of pushbacks, despite a plethora of evidence gathered by organizations and NGOS which suggests the contrary.
Also read: Protests in Greece at migration policy
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