Greek security forces coerce irregular migrants seeking asylum into pushing fellow asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a media report revealed Tuesday.
The British media outlet The Guardian reported that six forcibly recruited men spoke out about brutal illegal pushbacks involving threats, beating and looting after they were coerced into violent, illegal pushback operations run by Greek police in a militarized border zone in the dead of night.
Six migrants, Syrian and Moroccan, explained how they participated in pushback operations on the Maritsa (Meriç) river under duress. In return for a police note permitting them a month’s stay in Greece, the migrants claim they were forcibly recruited or lured there by a Syrian man living in a container in the yard of a Greek police station and then used as boatmen to ferry other migrants back to Turkey.
"They said they witnessed Greek police strip, rob and assault asylum-seekers before they were put back into overcrowded inflatable boats that the men were then ordered to transport them back across the deep and fast-running river to the Turkish bank," the report said.
A joint investigation by The Guardian, Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and ARD Report München has obtained visual evidence to corroborate the men’s testimony and documents confirming their detention and later release by Greek authorities. The men were among those who responded to the Facebook group Consolidated Rescue group, which had asked people to speak out on the practice.
Greek authorities and its prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have constantly rejected allegations, insisting that Greece has a “firm but fair” migration policy.
"But local people in border villages talked openly of the asylum-seekers, usually masked, who 'work' for police, and two senior Greek officers confirmed the practice of using third-country nationals as proxies in pushbacks," the report underlined.
The Turkish Coast Guard Command said last week it has rescued 33,964 irregular migrants in 1,295 pushback incidents carried out by the Greek coast guard since 2020, calling on Greece and the European Union to act in accordance with international law and human rights in order to end the pushbacks.
Turkey’s Ombudsman Institution report also mentioned that Greece has pushed back nearly 42,000 asylum-seekers since 2020. Noting that 98% of the pushbacks involved torture and ill-treatment, the report said 88% of the 8,000 asylum-seekers who came to the Greek border were beaten. It added that 97% of them suffered theft, 5% sexual assault and 8% electric shock, while 49% were forced to undress and 16% drowned. Of the children among them, 68% were exposed to or witnessed violence and abuse, stressed the report.
Turkey and human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back irregular migrants, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands have made short but perilous journeys 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 sank or capsized. The Turkish Coast Guard Command has rescued thousands of others.
Turkey and Greece have been key transit points for migrants looking to cross into Europe, fleeing war and persecution to start new lives. Turkey has accused Greece of large-scale pushbacks, summary deportations and denying migrants access to asylum procedures, violating international law. Ankara also accuses the EU of turning a blind eye to this blatant human rights abuse.
Pushbacks are contrary to international refugee protection agreements, which dictate that people should not be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality, or membership in a social or political group.
