Turkey pushed migrants into Greece, minister says
A day after police said they found 38 migrants who had been reported stranded on an islet in the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border, Greece on Tuesday accused Turkey of pushing the migrants into Greek territory.
During a visit to Evros on Tuesday, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said the group of 38 migrants – 35 Syrians and three Palestinians – arrived on the Turkish side of the river before they were forcefully pushed onto the islet by the Turkish authorities.
“The Turkish authorities arrested these migrants inside Turkey, they did not give them the right to apply for international protection, as Turkey is bound to do by international law,” he said, adding that “the Turkish gendarmerie brought them to the bank of the Evros and, under the threat of violence, pressured them to come to Greece.”
Mitarakis said that, on the basis of the migrants’ testimonies, a 5-year-old child died on Turkish territory, adding that the government will work with Red Cross and Red Crescent officials so that the family can recover the body and hold a dignified funeral.
The migrants had been trapped on the islet since August 7. After crossing the river on Monday, they were found in the Lavara area and taken to a Reception and Identification Center.
However, in previous days, the nongovernmental organizations Human Rights 360 and the Greek Council for Refugees, which had phone contact with the migrants, said the islet was within Greek territory, citing data from the National Land Registry, as well as Google Maps. On Sunday, Greek police said that they had carried out repeated searches without detecting any human presence and that the coordinates were given to the armed forces, “who pointed out that this is a point outside Greek territory.”
From the evidence available so far, the death of the 5-year-old girl is attributed to a scorpion sting.
According to an Al Jazeera report on August 10, members of the refugee group said that some of them had been on the same islet in mid-July attempting to cross to Greece, “but were returned to Turkey by the Greek authorities.”
There they were arrested by Turkish forces, initially detained without being given access to the asylum procedure and “at gunpoint they were asked to cross back to Greece.”
