Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of December 2020

Case name: 20201209-AEG732

Situation: A group of 27 people (incl. children) reached Kalymnos, was divided into two groups, sooner or later all were pushed back to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 9th of December 2020 at 10:50h CET Alarm Phone was informed about the situation of a group of people who departed in two boats in the region of Izmir on 6th of December 2020. The group consisted of 11 men, 12 women and 4 children, they reached the island Kalymnos and then were captured by Greek authorities and separated into men and women plus children.

The boat with the women and children on board was pushed back to Turkey and they got arrested and imprisoned on the same day and were allowed to leave the prison on 9th of December 2020. The boat with the men on it was brought to a military base on Farmakonisi. Last contact to this group was on 7th December.

At 12:35h CET the shift team wrote an email to the Helenic coastguard as well as to UNHCR and two human rights organizations. In a phone call later on to JRCC Piraeus the officer said not to know about the case before and we agreed to call back in 3 hours. Afterwards, UNHCR Greece was called in different offices. They said either to work on the case or that another unit is responsible.

In the afternoon the shift team got the information that the group is on a military base in Kos. All attempts to reach them directly were unsuccessful. Also JRCC Piraeus left the Alarm Phone with no information.

On 10th of December 2020 the Turkish coastguard was called in the morning with this result: The officer told that 4 days ago they found the women and children in a life raft near Farmakonisi and searched the area around the nearby islands for the men but couldn't find them. Furthermore the officer told the Alarm Phone that also the Hellenic coastguard couldn't provide them with more info. Some minutes later the Turkish coastguard called even back and informed the shift team that the 11 men were pushed back yesterday, got beaten up heavily and are now back in Didim.

Later, we were able to reconstruct the events of the pushback after getting back in touch with the travellers.
On the 4th of December, the whole group arrived to the Greek island and searched for the police station to claim asylum. They spent the night outside, and the following day they were found by 7 Greek police officers. The officers searched them and stole money and phones, apart from two phones that the travellers were able to hide. They were then separated into a group of men and one of women and children. The women and children were immediately pushed back and abandoned in a life raft without life vests whilst the men were forced to lie face down on another vessel. As the group of men tried to request that the women and children were given life vests, one officer started shooting into the air to threaten them into silence. The men refused to get on the life raft that the Greek officers tried to force them onto. This was met with more gunshots, but eventually the men were brought to Farmakonisi. Upon their arrival they were told by one officer that the women had been pushed back to Turkey and that they would also soon be pushed back.
When the officers later attempted to force the men onto a vessel to carry out the pushback, the men resisted and jumped in the water. From here, the Greek officers drenched them in water causing severe hypothermia. Some of the men were kept in the cold water from 20.00-01.30 and were then brought to a sheep shed, still wearing the wet clothes. As the men were wet and cold in the night, they started a fire in a desperate attempt to get warmer. This led to the Greek fire brigade arriving, and in addition to putting out the fire they also pointed to hoes at the travellers, leaving them again wet and freezing. On the 7th of December, two vessels arrived, one of them with guns visible on the deck. The travellers were forced onto the boats where they were ordered to lie facedown. As the officers started handcuffing the men, they attempted to flee the vessel. On shore they were met by more Greek officers who fired guns into the air. Four of the men jumped into the water, which lead the officers to fire their guns next to the men in the water. At the same time, those who remained on land were beaten up by the officers. One man who was unable to swim was pushed into the water, and as his comrade tried helping him out of the water, he was as well attacked. Following this struggle, all the travellers were handcuffeed and forced onto two vessels. When they had crossed the sea border to Turkey, they were forced onto a life raft. This was at around 22-00-23.00. All the travellers had sustained serious injuries to their heads, eyes and limbs, and one traveller passed out after they had been transferred to the life raft. Eventually, they were found by the Turkish coastguard and returned to Turkey where they received medical treatment because of their injuries.