The European Union's border agency Frontex has been at the center of scandals in the Aegean Sea for years due to its involvement in migrant pushbacks from Greek to Turkish territory, with the resignation of its head making headlines most recently.
Frontex was founded in 2004 with a mission to promote, coordinate and develop the EU's external borders in line with the bloc's fundamental rights charter and began operating in a small office on Oct. 3, 2005. It was established with a budget of 6 million euros ($6.3 million) and 70 employees.
It was designed to prevent criminals from entering the Schengen area, thus stopping them from traveling freely between the EU countries without borders.
Due to terror attacks in recent years, more authority has been given to the EU and Frontex to protect politically sensitive external borders for member states.
In the following years, Frontex's border protection teams and response units were established to support EU countries.
In 2015, French national Fabrice Leggeri was appointed head of the EU's border agency, which is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland.
Frontex, which operated in an administrative capacity when Leggeri took the office, eventually turned into an armed and uniformed border guard organization with a budget of 543 million euros.
It has become one of the EU's biggest organizations and institutions with the largest budget and aircraft, boats and more than 1,500 employees at its disposal.
Comprised of 26 countries, the Schengen area extends along some 44,000 kilometers (27,340 miles) of external sea borders and almost 9,000 kilometers of land borders.
Frontex's duties include rapid border interventions, joint search and rescue efforts, providing humanitarian aid, screening and identifying migrants and preventing terrorist activities and smuggling of people and property.
It helped rescue 13,000 migrants in 2020 and identified 1,200 traffickers of people and drugs, according to Frontex data.
In midst of scandals
Frontex, which was founded with great hopes, has been at the center of major scandals since its establishment.
The agency came to the fore due to the Greek coast guard frequently pushing back migrant boats in the Aegean Sea, with many losing their lives in these incidents.
Reports of pushbacks involving the Greek coast guard and Frontex have surfaced in the international press since 2020.
A joint investigation carried out by France's Le Monde newspaper, German weekly Der Spiegel, Swiss news outlets SRF Rundschau and Republik, and Netherlands-based Lighthouse Reports revealed in late April that Frontex was involved in 22 pushbacks between March 2020 and September 2021.
Germany's public broadcaster ARD and Der Spiegel, French daily Liberation, Serbian newspaper Novosti, Croatian TV network RTL, Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat, and Lighthouse Report covered many studies on Greek pushbacks.
Greek coast guard boats were blocking, damaging or even sinking the boats of migrants who were seeking to cross from Turkey to Greece, according to the reports.
According to allegations, Frontex, despite knowing that pushbacks are against international law, tolerated and did not prevent violations of fundamental rights, and in some cases, it helped Greek officials.
Thousands of people are said to be victims of pushbacks in which Frontex was involved and some migrants lost their lives.
In light of the media coverage, Frontex and its management came under criticism in Brussels. Some members of the European Parliament demanded Leggeri's resignation. The European Commission also requested an explanation from Frontex.
For the first time in its history, the EU's border agency was the subject of lawsuits. Two migrants who were pushed back in the Aegean Sea appealed to the EU Court of Justice.
Frontex investigations
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has launched an investigation against Frontex and Leggeri.
Leggeri and other senior officials not only knew about Greece's pushbacks but also covered them up, according to OLAF reports leaked by media outlets.
The European Parliament also established a special working group on Frontex and started to investigate the allegations. The probe found that Frontex did not prevent violations of fundamental rights.
The media reports were supported by numerous pieces of evidence such as witness statements, video recordings and satellite images. The Frontex database contains records of hundreds of irregular migrants being pushed back in the Aegean.
Having been associated with constant scandals in recent years, Frontex made the headlines with the resignation of its chief.
Leggeri submitted his resignation to the Frontex board of directors almost two years after the allegations against him emerged.
In addition, the European Parliament did not approve Frontex's budget over its role in pushbacks and management problems. The parliament, which discussed the 2020 budget, has not yet released Frontex's budget for this period.
Frontex's spending was not approved due to ongoing investigations and administrative issues regarding fundamental rights, including the pushbacks. The parliament demanded to see all the investigative reports prepared on these issues and postponed the release decision until autumn.
Frontex and Greek authorities have always denied the allegations of international human rights organizations, the international press, politicians and many institutions regarding the pushbacks.
Turkey was also among those who reacted to Greece and Frontex regarding the pushbacks, with Turkish officials often stressing that pushbacks are inhumane.
"This is because some part of the budget was used for pushback of migrants. The Frontex did not only watch this, it also bore witness and participated in these inhumane practices. The withholding of the budget and resignation of the executive director do not acquit the Frontex," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on the agency's budget not being approved.
In February, at least 19 irregular migrants were found frozen to death near the Turkish-Greek border after being pushed back to Turkey by Greece.
Turkish officials 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 denied any involvement.
Commenting on the incident, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Frontex for cooperating with Greece and the bloc for turning a blind eye to the deaths of migrants.
Turkey and Greece have been key transit points for migrants aiming to cross into Europe, fleeing war and persecution to start new lives. The journey of hope for irregular migrants either ends in the blue waters of the Aegean or turns into a nightmare due to the inhumane practices of Greek coast guard units. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers have made the short but perilous journey across the Aegean to reach Northern and Western Europe in search of a better life. Hundreds of people have died at sea as many boats carrying refugees often sink or capsize. The Turkish Coast Guard Command has rescued thousands of others.
Turkey and many international human rights groups have accused Greece of large-scale pushbacks and summary deportations without migrants being given access to asylum procedures, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children. They also accuse the European Union of turning a blind eye to this blatant abuse of human rights.