Before midnight on May 25th, Aegean Boat Report was contacted by passengers onboard a drifting vessel only 1.5 km from the southeastern shore of the Greek island of Nisyros.
People onboard informed us that the boat was drifting due to a malfunctioning engine, and that there were 100 passengers onboard, over 30 of them small children, mainly Syrians and Afghan families.
The current and wind direction was pushing the boat north west, straight toward the cliffs on the shores of Nisyros, wind speed 5-6 Beaufort, and we immediately contacted the Greek coast guard to alert them of the emergency situation.
Alerting the Greek coast guard about boat in distress carrying refugees in Greek waters, is many times a painstaking task, this time was no exception.
The call lasted almost 10 minutes, I was put on hold several times, and when they eventually found the time to talk to me, they were much more interested in who I was and how I had com across this information, than the emergency case I was trying to inform them about.
Over the years I have gotten used to discussing and arguing with the emergency call center of the Greek coast guard. After hundreds of calls they know very well who I am, but makes a point, every single time, pretending to not have the faintest idea. Waisting time seems to me the be the main objective, time that otherwise could have been used to save lives.
When boats are in distress in the Aegean Sea, the only option available is to contact the appropriate authorities in the area, there are no other rescue vessels as you can find in the Mediterranean. There is no international waters in this area, only Greek or Turkish waters, where NGO’s are not allowed to operate. If in distress in Greek waters, we are left with no option, even do we know that Greek authorities will do their utmost to push people back, no matter the consequences.
We remained in contact with the passengers of the drifting vessel, from videos received we could see that people were cramped inside and outside of the vessel. We didn’t register anyone wearing life jackets onboard, if the boat had hit the cliffs and capsizes, this would very quickly have become a disaster.
Shortly after midnight the passengers informed us that a boat was approaching. In the beginning only as search lights in the distance, people were shouting and flashing with their phones, relived, finally they would be rescued.
Their optimism fainted slightly when they released that the boat who was now pulling up alongside them, was most likely too small to take onboard 100 people, and the three men seen on deck in green uniforms, helmets, face covered, carrying battle rifles, didn’t seem like someone who was there to save them, quite the opposite.
Shortly after the Greek coast guard vessel arrived on location, we lost contact with all the phones on the boat, and we could only hope that the people in distress would be transported to the nearest port of safety.
We did several follow up calls to the Greek coast guard, whom we had previously spoken to, to try to get any indication on whether this was in fact a rescue operation, or a pushback.
Officers on call were extremely hostile, refusing to provide any information, denying having any information on an emergency case in the area, and would not confirm that there were an active operation ongoing. When I tried to explain that I was the one who had informed them about this case in the first place, he shouted something in Greek that i couldn’t make out, probably nothing good, and hung up the phone.
To be met with such extreme unprofessional behaviour, from an operator of a national emergency call centre, is just unbelievable, but when in contact with the Greek coast guard, this is unfortunately not uncommon.
From this point we were fairly certain that the boat that arrived on location was not there to rescue anyone, but rather to make sure that they didn’t set foot on Greek soil, and push them back.
In a video taken by one of the passengers on the drifting boat outside Nisyros, we can see a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel belonging to the Greek coast guard, and three men in Green uniforms, armed and in full tactical gear, ready to board.
The Greek coast guard use dark blue uniforms, not green as we can see on deck in the video.
From several previous investigations into the illegal practice of the Greek authorities, it’s commonly known that on all coast guards vessels, there are Greek Navy special forces deployed, O.E.A, or most like O.Y.K, Underwater Demolition Team. Highly motivated individuals carrying out direct order from the Greek authorities to the letter, no questions asked, pain, suffering and death follow in their footsteps.
For the next three hours we were unable to reconnect with anyone onboard the drifting vessel, all we could do was wait.
At 3.30am local time we received a new emergency call from the boat, but they were no longer close to the Greek island of Nisyros, not even in Greek waters.
The new location we received from the boat, showed that they were in Turkish waters, 3 kilometers south east of Bağlarözü, Datça, and over 10 kilometres from their previous location four hours earlier.
A boat carrying 96 people, 38 of them small children, was towed by the Greek coast guard for over three hours into Turkish waters. If something had gone wrong, like when they attempted to tow the Adriana, we would have had yet another tragedy on our hands. Non of the passenger hade life jackets, and the coast guard vessel was not equipped to perform a rescue operation of this scale.
Greek authorities would easily and very “logically” explain this as a “prevention of entry”, even do the boat was deep inside Greek territory waters at the time they were found drifting. They would also say that the boat voluntarily had turned around and gone back to Turkey, that the boat had no working engine, and had to drift against wind and current seems to be of no importance.
The problem is that they know they can basically say and do whatever they want, because no matter what they do, no matter how horrible the outcome is, no matter how many they kill, they have the full support of Frontex and the European Commission. The Pylos shipwreck, where over 650 people were killed by the Greek authorities, is a clear testimony to the lack of accountability, not only by Greece, but also the European Commission.
When we regained contact with the boat, we immediately contacted the Turkish coast guard and informed them. In contrast to the call to the Greek coast guard 4 hours earlier, this call took only 43 seconds, in this short time we provided all necessary information, and also explained that the boat had been pushed back by Greek authorities. The operator could inform us that they had received an email from their Greek counterparts, with information and location of the drifting boat in Turkish waters, as routinely is done after they have pushed boats back.
While still adrift, one of the passengers explained what had happened.
Masked armed men carrying guns entered the boat.
Everyone was gathered together, and everyone was ordered to hand over their phones, those who refused were beaten.
At least two people managed to hide their phones, those phones were later used to call for help.
A rope was tied to the front of the vessel, and the coast guard started to tow the boat back toward Turkish waters.
After 3 hours the armed men removed the rope, went back to the coast guard vessel, who then just left them helplessly drifting.
This is the usual approach by Greek authorities when encountering larger vessels in Greek waters, they try to tow it out of Greek waters to avoid dealing with it. The same method was used outside Pylos, when they tried to tow the Adriana into Italian waters, which led to one of the worst shipwreck in modern times, killing 650 people.
People onboard were afraid of also the Turkish coast guard, they claimed that the Turkish coast guard would beat them similarly as the Greek coast guard had done.
At 04.30 the Turkish coast guard arrived on location, shortly after we lost contact with the two remaining phones on the boat.
The following day, when Turkish coast guard published their official report on the incident, they deliberately falsified the report to cover up for Greek human rights violations.
The incident was officially registered as a case where the Turkish coast guard had stopped a boat from crossing into Greek waters, even after the pushback had been confirmed by the passengers onboard, Aegean Boat Report and also by official email from the Greek coast guard.
This charade has been ongoing since last summer, hundreds of pushback cases have been deliberately registered incorrectly by the Turkish authorities, in an effort to mislead the public in believing that things are getting better, it most definitely haven’t.
So why would Turkey be interested in covering up Greek human rights violations?
We actually don’t have an answer to that, but we suspect that they are not doing it out of kindness and consideration for the Greek authorities.
These deliberate cover ups by authorities on both sides of the Aegean, gives an illusion that there are less violations of the rights of people on the move, a smokescreen, in reality, it’s business as usual at Europe’s outer border, where systemic human rights violations takes place on a daily basis.
We fear that what we see today at Europe’s border, is only the beginning, and in the years to come escalate, to a point where human rights will be the privilege of the few, and those trying to cross through irregular routes can be shot on sight.
You might say “this will never happen”, but if I had predicted today’s reality in the Aegean Sea, 30 years ago, you would have said the same.
On 14 of June 2023, Greek authorities Killed 650 people in the sinking of the Adriana off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. Officers onboard was acting on direct orders from Greek authorities, fully aware that the order was illigal under Greek and international law.
On May 23, almost three years after the crime took place, the Greek naval court has charged 17 coast guard officers, amongst them the captain, of the Greek offshore patrol vessel LS-920, who attempted to tow the Adriana and caused it to capsize.
Greek authorities are now looking to find a scapegoat, someone to put the blame on for this tragedy, and to divert attention from those really responsible, from where the orders originated from, the Greek government, and especially it’s leader, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
It sends out a clear signal, especially to the members of the Greek coast guard, that the one giving them these illegal orders, the Greek prime minister, won’t think twice about “throwing them under the bus” if caught after following his illegal orders, to save his own skin.
We have no illusions that those charged will ever be convicted in a Greek court, for that to happen, it needs to be lifted up to a European level.
Systematic human rights violations at the Greek sea border, has been ongoing for over 5 years. Almost 100.000 people have been illegally and violently removed from Greek territory, and pushed back towards Turkey, over 1.000 people have been killed in these illigal operations.
Greek authorities, supported by Frontex, have again been proven to be involved and responsible for human rights violations in the Aegean Sea. The question is, what will Frontex management board and the European Commission do to stop this?
We demand that the European Commission immediately launch infringement proceedings against Greece for systematic and widespread human rights violations, and we demand the ceasing of all Frontex operations in Greece in accordance to article 46 of the Frontex regulation.