Greece on Thursday asked Türkiye to help about 40 migrants that have been stranded for days on a river islet as they are “outside Greek sovereignty.”
A police statement said the request was made after it emerged that the coordinates given for the islet on the Evros River were out of Greece’s sovereignty.
It said Turkish authorities were asked “to urgently take all necessary action” to quickly get the migrants off the islet and provide them “with all required assistance.”
The Greek Council for Refugees said the migrants, who are being allegedly batted from side to side of the border by the Greek and Turkish authorities, informed that a 5-year-old girl died on the islet after she was stung by a scorpion.
A police official told the Associated Press that for days police had chased successive reports of migrants stranded on Evros islets, but due to different coordinates for the migrants' location, they didn't find anyone.
The head of the Greek Council for Refugees, Vassilis Papadopoulos, said his group first heard about the migrants in mid-July. He said they were about 50 people who had allegedly succeeded in crossing to the Greek side but were then forced back to Turkey.
Greece has strongly denied persistent allegations that it commits pushbacks – sending asylum-seekers who reach its territory back to the country they entered from without being allowed to request asylum. This is illegal under international laws protecting the rights of asylum-seekers.
