07/02: 23 people in Greece beaten and forced onto rafts by Hellenic Coastguard pushed-back to Turkey

08.02.2022 / 18:53 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 7th of February 2022

Case name: 2022_02_07-AEG858
Situation: 23 Travellers after arriving in Greek soil were beaten, thieved from and forced onto life-rafts by Hellenic Coastguard and pushed-back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
In the late morning of the 7th of February, Alarm Phone received a call by a concerned relative, alerting us to a group of 1 woman, 3 children and 19 men in distress after having arrived on Kos island, Greece, and then been forced onto 2 life-rafts by Greek authorities, and pushed back towards Turkey adrift. The caller also related that he hadn’t managed to get contact with the people on board for some hours, we tried to establish direct contact to the boat but without success. In the early afternoon we received information from the relative that the two life-rafts had been rescued by the Turkish Coastguard, we promptly called the Turkish Coastguard and received information that they rescued the group at 11:00 CET and had taken them to Bodrum.

The next day, on the 8th of February we managed to contact some of the group, who told us that they were now in a camp in Turkey. During the push-back operation, the Hellenic Coastguard had injured several people by hitting them on the head and other parts of the body, as well as stealing their phones. Since they arrived in Turkey they had not received any medical attention for these injuries and hadn’t received any food.

Stop the illegal atrocities committed by the Hellenic Coastguard!
Last update: 19:15 May 16, 2022
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
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  • 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