Brussels Talks Platform Peace & Justice

Marina Drougka - Ugur Tok 

Over the years, nongovernmental groups and media outlets have consistently reported the unlawful return, including through pushbacks, of groups and individuals from Greece to Turkey by Greek law enforcement officers or unidentified masked men, who appear to be working in tandem with border enforcement officials.

Reports from 2020 recorded multiple incidents in which Greek Coast Guard personnel, sometimes accompanied by armed masked men in dark clothing, unlawfully abandoned migrants – including those who had reached Greek territory. They abandoned the migrants at sea, on inflatable vessels without motors; towed migrant boats to Turkish waters; or intercepted, attacked, and disabled boats carrying migrants.

Nongovernmental organizations and the media have also reported persistent allegations that Greek border guards have engaged in collective expulsions and pushbacks of asylum seekers through the Evros land border with Turkey which jeopardise fate of particularly political refugees as well as third country immigrants. 

We spoke Pushbacks with Tineke Strik, one of the leading MEPs voicing migration issues and promoting immigrant's rights at European Parliament and vocal on Pushbacks. Ms Strik is also professor at the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University.