Produced for TRT World
COAST GUARD- MIGRANT RESCUE
Turkey is both a destination and a transit country for
irregular migration, due to hunger and wars, from Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. Some of the
migrants, mostly Syrians, are trying to go from Turkey to Greece and from there to Europe. These illegal
immigrants including children, cross from the Muğla coast -the longest coastline in Turkey with a length
of 1,480 kilometers- to the Greek islands by rubber boats. They dream of Europe, but lately they are being
exposed to a different kind of treatment. As soon as they enter the Greek territorial waters in boats,
instead of being placed in camps by the Greek Coast Guard, they are pushed back to Turkish territorial
waters, and sometimes their rubber boats are dismantled from engines or gasoline is emptied.
Immigrants who have been subjected to this ostracism -despite the principle of non-
refoulement under International Refugee Law- say that they were detained, their belongings were taken,
and they were beaten and deported from Greece, while at the same time they were denied asylum and
access to legal process. Among them are immigrants from many countries such as Palestine, Syria,
Afghanistan, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Benin, Iraq, South Africa and Guinea.
Greece continues to violate human rights and international law with its attitude towards immigrants trying
to cross the Aegean Sea. Experts reporting migration events in the Aegean Sea share the information that
Greece's push-back actions had increased by 97 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year. Amnesty
International had also released a report on this subject entitled “Violence, Lies and Pushbacks”.
According to the data of the Turkish Coast Guard Command, there were 619 push-back cases in 2021. A
total of 15.794 immigrants, who went on a voyage of hope from the Aegean and the Mediterranean with
various means of sea transportation, were pushed back into Turkish waters by the Greek Coast Guard
teams. Turkish Coast Guard teams rescued many immigrants alive. However, according to the Coast
Guard records, 11 immigrants died in push-backs last year.
