Some 145 stranded migrants were pulled out of the water in the Aegean Sea as the Turkish Coast Guard Command came to the rescue of more asylum-seekers pushed back by Greece, authorities said Monday.
Coast guard units rescued 61 migrants from a rubber boat off Muğla's Bodrum and Datça districts, and 84 others were saved off the Didim district in Aydın province, according to the Turkish coast guard.
The migrants were later taken to the provincial migration authorities.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants seeking to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Greece has employed a notorious policy of pushing back asylum-seekers since the height of the migration crisis in 2015.
The Greek government denies all allegations, despite claims to the contrary from alleged victims, rights groups, Turkish drone footage and even the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
“In Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become the de facto general policy,” the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, said last year.
Similarly, many in the international community, including Türkiye, have frequently condemned the practice as a violation of humanitarian values and international law for endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants.
Greece has also been accused of deliberately and systematically cooperating with the EU’s border agency Frontex for the pushbacks, according to a 2022 investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
While the Turkish coast guard has rescued thousands sent back by Greek authorities, countless others died at sea as boats full of refugees sank or capsized, especially in the Aegean Sea, where both countries share a border.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded nearly 2,000 migrants dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea last year.
The United Nations agency estimates that since the beginning of 2023, 2,013 migrants have gone missing in central Mediterranean waters.
In June, at least 82 people died in a shipwreck billed as one of the most serious involving migrants in the Mediterranean.
For Ankara, “international injustice” is the leading cause of irregular migration. According to Turkish officials, it is necessary to improve conditions in the countries where illegal migrants hail from, along with the need for voluntary returns in line with international standards for intercepted irregular migrants.
In July, Türkiye joined over 20 nations and international organizations to launch the “Rome Process” to prevent and tackle irregular migration and human trafficking.
In early August, Türkiye joined forces with the United Kingdom to slow the flow of irregular migrants passing through its northern and western territory on their way to Europe.
A new operational center comprising Turkish and British police will cooperate in sharing customs data, information and intelligence, people and technology to disrupt and dismantle human trafficking gangs and the manufacturing and supply of materials that enable small boat crossings.
