18/08: three people pushed back from Greece to Turkey

19.08.2021 / 20:32 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of August 2021

Case name: 20210818-AEG808

Situation: three people in a bad health condition in Greece were pushed back to Turkey despite sending their names, nationalities and birthdates to the authorities

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 18th of April we were informed about three people in bad health condition in Greece close to the border to Turkey. At 11:57 CEST we informed the Greek authorities about it. At 12:45 CEST a lawyer form the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) asked for the names, birthdates and nationalities of the concerned people to be able to help, we forwarded the information to him with the consent of the people on the move. At 14:18 CEST the travelers texted us that the police was picking them up and apparently brought them to Sapes Border Patrol station. Afterwards we couldn’t reach the three people again. At 14:41 CEST the lawyer from GCR informed us that he sent a letter about the emergency situation of the three people on the move to the authorities in order to avoid their possible deport. At 16:58 CEST we called Sapes Border Patrol station asking if they picked up three people near Sapes, but they claimed not to know anything.

In the morning of the 19th of April we received an email from the lawyer of the GCR saying that the Alexandroupolis Police Department claimed that they did not find the three people on the move.Simultaneously we received a message from a relative informing us that the three people were pushed back to Turkey. So the Greek Border Guards openly lied to us another time while illegally pushing people back.

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans