Withholding Frontex's budget and the resignation of its executive director do not absolve the European Union's border agency, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday, underlining its role in the deaths of migrants in the Aegean Sea.
Frontex has been under fire recently for allegedly taking part in illegal pushbacks of irregular migrants.
Responding to a question about withholding the Frontex budget due to its role in Greece's migrant pushbacks, Çavuşoğlu said Turkish authorities had already shared evidence showing how Greece pushed back irregular migrants on Aegean islands and Turkish borders.
"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," he said, noting that the pushbacks resulted in the deaths of migrants on certain occasions.
He went on to say that both Greece and Frontex, and accordingly the EU, bore responsibility for the deaths and that Turkish authorities are willing to share documents and information on pushbacks if the European courts were to investigate the matter sincerely.
Frontex has repeatedly been accused by aid groups of illegally returning migrants across EU borders – or of turning a blind eye when national authorities themselves carry out such "pushbacks." Greece's land and sea borders with Turkey have been a major focus of such allegations.
Last week, 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 that Frontex has been involved in Greece's illegal pushback of over 900 asylum-seekers in the Aegean Sea.
Accordingly, Frontex was involved in 22 pushbacks between March 2020 and September 2021. Frontex recorded the incidents – in which at least 957 asylum-seekers were taken off dinghies, put into Greek life rafts and left adrift at sea – as "prevention of departure," the investigation underlined.
On March 17, publishing the findings of an investigation by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud watchdog, Der Spiegel revealed that Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri and other top officials not only knew of but also covered up the Greek pushbacks in the Aegean Sea.
Following the investigation, Leggeri, a figurehead for impenetrable European frontiers who was frequently accused of tolerating illegal "pushbacks" of migrants, offered his resignation last week as head of the border agency.
Most recently, European Union lawmakers on Wednesday withheld approval on Frontex's budget over "illegal pushbacks of migrants" as they signed off on the bloc's budget, a week after the agency head resigned following the Frontex's involvement in pushback incidents toward Turkey in the Aegean Sea was revealed.
In a statement, they named the EU anti-fraud watchdog OLAF's ongoing investigation into "fundamental rights incidents, including migrant pushbacks," as well as Frontex's "failure to fulfill the conditions" set by the European Parliament last year.
Since 2015, human rights organizations and leading media outlets have frequently reported illegal pushbacks and other human rights breaches by Greek authorities, as well as Frontex's complicity in these acts violating the EU and international laws.
Pushbacks – forcing would-be refugees away from a border before they can reach a country and claim asylum – are considered violations of international refugee protection agreements, which say people shouldn’t be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality or being members of a social or political group.
Last year, OLAF opened an investigation into Frontex over allegations of harassment, misconduct and migrant pushbacks. Leggeri had led Frontex since 2015, when well over 1 million people, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria, entered the bloc.
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.