A raft carrying Afghan women and children who were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea this month.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
From NYTimes by Carlotta Gall
Frustrated by more than a year of picking up people they say Greece has illegally pushed out, Turkish officials invited journalists to witness rescues firsthand.
ABOARD A TURKISH COAST GUARD VESSEL — Wet and shaken, women and children were pulled aboard the Turkish patrol boat first, then the men and more children.
A 7-year-old girl in striped leggings, Heliah Nazari, shivered uncontrollably as she was set down on the deck. An older woman retched into a plastic bag.
They were two of 20 asylum seekers from Afghanistan who had been drifting in the dark, abandoned in rudderless rafts for four hours before the Turkish Coast Guard reached them.
Just hours earlier they had been resting in a forest on the Greek island of Lesbos when they were caught by Greek police officers who confiscated their documents, money and cellphones and ferried them out to sea.
“They kicked us all, with their feet, even the children, women, men and everyone,” said Ashraf Salih, 21, recounting their story.
“They did not say anything, they just left us. They weren’t humane at all.”
The Turkish Coast Guard officials described it as a clear case — rarely witnessed by journalists — of the illegal pushbacks that have now become a regular feature of the dangerous game of cat and mouse between the two countries over thousands of migrants who continue to attempt the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as a way into Europe.
The Turkish Coast Guard officials described it as a clear case — rarely witnessed by journalists — of the illegal pushbacks that have now become a regular feature of the dangerous game of cat and mouse between the two countries over thousands of migrants who continue to attempt the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as a way into Europe.
Migrants who had become adrift in the Aegean were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard this month. Thousands of people continue to attempt the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as a way into Europe.
Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
Since a mutual agreement broke down last year, Turkey and Greece have been at loggerheads over how to deal with the continuing flow of migrants along one of the most frequented routes used since the mass movement boomed in 2015.
Then, one million migrants, mostly Syrians fleeing the war in their country, led the surge into Europe. The flow is much reduced — 40,000 have arrived by sea into Europe so far this year — but it is now dominated by Afghans, raising fears that the escalating conflict there and the American withdrawal of troops could bring larger numbers.
For more than a year, Turkey has turned a blind eye to the migrants, allowing them to try the sea crossing to Greece.
That country has resorted to expelling migrants forcibly, disabling their boats and pushing them back to Turkey when they are caught at sea.
Increasingly, Greece is even removing asylum seekers who have reached its islands, forcing them into life rafts and towing them into Turkish waters, as the compassion many Greeks had shown during earlier waves of migration has given way to anger and exhaustion.
The tactic of so-called pushbacks has been roundly denounced by refugee organizations and European officials as a violation of international law and of fundamental European values.
Increasingly, Greece is even removing asylum seekers who have reached its islands, forcing them into life rafts and towing them into Turkish waters, as the compassion many Greeks had shown during earlier waves of migration has given way to anger and exhaustion.
The tactic of so-called pushbacks has been roundly denounced by refugee organizations and European officials as a violation of international law and of fundamental European values.
The Greek government denies that it has pushed back any migrants, while insisting on its right to protect its borders.
“It is obvious they were pushed back,” said Senior Lt. Cmdr. Sadun Ozdemir, the Northern Aegean group commander in the Turkish Coast Guard, after his crew rescued a group of Afghans in the Aegean. Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times“Numerous cases have been investigated, including by the European Union,” Notis Mitarachi, minister for migration and asylum in Greece, said last week, “and reports have found no evidence of any breach of E.U. fundamental rights.”
Philippe Leclerc, head of the United Nations refugee agency in Turkey, said his office had presented evidence, including “accounts of violence and family separations” to the Greek ombudsman, requesting the cases be investigated, without result.
The two countries are at an impasse, with Turkey demanding that Greece end the pushbacks first, and Greece demanding that Turkey first take back 1,400 migrants whose asylum requests have been rejected, Mr. Leclerc said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has been widely accused of precipitating the crisis, when in February last year he announced he was opening his country’s borders for migrants to travel to Europe.
Turkish officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak to the news media, said the step was taken to draw world attention to Turkey’s own burden in hosting some four million asylum seekers from other nations’ wars — more than 3.6 million Syrians, along with 400,000 other people from Afghanistan, Asia and the Middle East.
It is the single largest refugee community in the world, and has taken over whole suburbs of Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.
But the action was interpreted in Greece as a kind of blackmail to extort money and other concessions from the European Union on a range of issues.
But the action was interpreted in Greece as a kind of blackmail to extort money and other concessions from the European Union on a range of issues.
Migrants trying to cross the Aegean from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard after their engine stalled this month.
Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
It led to clashes between migrants and Greek border guards on the Turkish-Greek border and caused the conservative Greek government to adopt aggressive new measures against migrants, including the pushbacks.
Greece has struggled to handle the influx of more than 100,000 asylum cases and overcrowded refugee camps on its islands while other European countries have done little to share the burden.
But Turkish officials stress that the numbers Greece is handling is nothing compared with the scale of the strain on Turkey.
Resentment against the migrants in Turkey has grown as economic conditions have worsened, threatening Mr. Erdogan’s political standing.
He, in turn, has railed against wealthier states shirking their responsibilities toward the world’s refugees and not doing enough to end the conflicts that cause them to flee.
Frustrated after more than a year of picking up thousands of migrants left by their Greek counterparts, the Turkish Coast Guard invited journalists recently on a patrol boat to witness what they said were the Greek violations.
“It is obvious they were pushed back,” Senior Lt. Cmdr. Sadun Ozdemir, the Northern Aegean group commander of the Turkish Coast Guard, said after his crew had rescued the 20 Afghans.
Frustrated after more than a year of picking up thousands of migrants left by their Greek counterparts, the Turkish Coast Guard invited journalists recently on a patrol boat to witness what they said were the Greek violations.
“It is obvious they were pushed back,” Senior Lt. Cmdr. Sadun Ozdemir, the Northern Aegean group commander of the Turkish Coast Guard, said after his crew had rescued the 20 Afghans.
“They did not come from the sky.”
Some of the rescued Afghans back on shore in Dikili, Turkey. Heliah Nazari, right, was recovering in dry clothes supplied by the International Organization for Migration
Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
He said the Greek vessel had probably towed the rafts deep into Turkish territorial waters before cutting them adrift, which he said was an additional violation.
One raft was overloaded and the thin bottom leaking, he said.
“That boat could have sunk in one or two minutes, and possibly they do not know how to swim and they could have drowned.”
As often happens, the Turkish crew received an email from their Greek counterparts that migrants were drifting in the area — a seeming effort by the Greeks to mitigate loss of life but something the Turks say is an implicit sign of Greek culpability.
Tommy Olsen, who runs the Aegean Boat Report, a Norwegian nonprofit that tracks arrivals of migrants on the Greek islands, confirmed through photographs and electronic data that members of the group had been on the island of Lesbos that day.
A local photographer also took pictures of some of them in front of a Greek church, a landmark on the south of the island.
As often happens, the Turkish crew received an email from their Greek counterparts that migrants were drifting in the area — a seeming effort by the Greeks to mitigate loss of life but something the Turks say is an implicit sign of Greek culpability.
Tommy Olsen, who runs the Aegean Boat Report, a Norwegian nonprofit that tracks arrivals of migrants on the Greek islands, confirmed through photographs and electronic data that members of the group had been on the island of Lesbos that day.
A local photographer also took pictures of some of them in front of a Greek church, a landmark on the south of the island.
Another photograph showed Mr. Salih and his mother resting beside the fence of a house, with the girl in striped leggings drinking juice and smiling.
Rescued migrants on a Turkish Coast Guard ship. Stranded after their engine failed, most of them said they had been pushed back multiple times by the Greek authorities.
Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
The pushbacks also damage relations between the Greek and Turkish Coast Guards and interfere with work against drug and people trafficking, Commander Ozdemir said.
Commercial ships as well as navy and coast guard vessels pass through the northern Aegean and could easily hit the small rafts and boats, which have no lights or means of navigation, he added.
“This thing we call ‘pushback’ in English is a very innocent expression,” he said. But the action was anything but, he said, hoping to convey “how desperate the situation is.”
Interviews with migrants rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard in several incidents over the course of four nights revealed the scale of Greek violations and the growing desperation of migrants.
One group of 18 people, from Africa and the Middle East, were rescued after their engine broke down.
A Turkish Coast Guard ship confronted a Greek Coast Guard vessel near the island of Lesbos this month. Commander Ozdemir said the pushbacks damaged relations between the two services.
Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
Muhammad Nasir, 29, said he had fled the war in Yemen after his father was killed. He was trying to join his uncle in Britain.
He said he had been pushed back seven times by the Greek Coast Guard; this was his eighth attempt.
“For three months, I have been trying,” he said, his voice cracking. “I feel disappointed. I cannot stay in Turkey, I do not have a job and my family are waiting for me to help them.”
An Afghan teenager with an injured leg, Reyhan Ahmedi, 16, was picked up after six hours at sea alone after being expelled by Greece.
“For three months, I have been trying,” he said, his voice cracking. “I feel disappointed. I cannot stay in Turkey, I do not have a job and my family are waiting for me to help them.”
An Afghan teenager with an injured leg, Reyhan Ahmedi, 16, was picked up after six hours at sea alone after being expelled by Greece.
He said he had fled his home in the town of Gereshk, in southern Afghanistan, as attacks from the Taliban escalated.
When he got news that his home had been bombed and was unable to reach his parents, he decided to make a bid to reach Europe.
“I thought I should take myself away from Afghanistan and find a better future for myself,” he said.
“I thought I should take myself away from Afghanistan and find a better future for myself,” he said.
“I want to get an education.”
The Aegean, near Cunda, Turkey. Some 40,000 migrants have arrived by sea into Europe so far this year, mostly Afghans.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
Links :
- GeoGarage blog :Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to ... / Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating ... / The mission to raise the anchor from a ... / 'I'll die with no regrets': risking their lives in ... / The risks to migrants of crossing the English ... / What rules apply to migrants rescued at sea? / A perilous journey: How many asylum ... / Migrants can't be left to die in the seas of ... / Mediterranean migrant deaths reach record ... / Mediterranean Sea Rescue - GeoGarage blog / The millionaires who rescue people at sea / SAR crisis in the Mediterranean ... / A wintry sea seems a safer bet than life at ... / Lampedusa, the Italian Island thousands are ...
- EU Observer : NGO sea-rescue mission exposes reality of EU 'values'
- UN: Migrant deaths on sea routes to Europe more than double
- IOM/UN : Deaths on Maritime Migration Routes to Europe Soar in First Half of 2021: IOM Brief
Politico : Adrift in uncertain waters: Migrant pushbacks in the Aegean
ReplyDeleteInfoMigrants : At least 17 migrants dead off Tunisian coast
ReplyDelete