Category Archives: Blog

Almost a year ago, on June 26, we posted a video of a group of refugees handcuffed and duct-taped in the back of a van in Kos. The video immediately went viral on social media. The Major of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, who is known to have a close connection to the police and coast guardContinue reading “To Theodosis Nikitaras, Mayor of Kos, We Say This:”

In the cover of darkness on March 2, a rubber boat tried to reach the northern shores of Chios, when it was brutally stopped and illegally pushed back by the Greek coast guard. People onboard was robbed of their belongings, brutally beaten, thrown into two life rafts and left helplessly drifting in the middle ofContinue reading “Albanian NATO Vessel Turned A Blind Eye To Brutal Greek Pushback”

At first light on February 19, a boat carrying 37 people, amongst them 13 small children, ended up in distress deep inside Greek waters, south east of Plomari, Lesvos south. First on scene was the Bulgarian coast guard vessel “Balchik”, which is stationed on Lesvos as part of the European Border and Coast Guard AgencyContinue reading “The EU Border Agency Frontex Continues To Support Pushbacks In Greece”

In the afternoon of 25 January, a boat carrying 38 people, all Afghans, had almost reached land in the north of Lesvos, when they were stopped by two vessels from the Greek Coast guard, and illegally pushed back to Turkey. This happened while a Latvian Frontex vessel was present, seemingly only observing. It did nothingContinue reading “EU Border Agency Frontex Continues to Cover up Pushbacks From Greece”

In the morning of Sunday, April 7, a group of 72 people – 52 adults and 20 children – was adrift in a sailboat five kilometres south east of the Greek island of Leros, in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. The 72 people were a mix of Syrian (52), and Palestinian (20) nationals.Continue reading “Illegal Pushbacks Funded By EU Continues In Greece, Unhindered And Unchallenged”

Over the last month we have registered a shift in routes used by people seeking international protection in the Aegean Sea. Normally, people crossing from Turkey towards the Greek islands have had Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Kos as their main destination. Now, smaller islands seem to get more arrivals. Why this is happening now couldContinue reading “Another Europe is Possible: Time To Change Our Failing, Immoral Border Policies”

We have previously published about large groups of people, Afgan families, who have been taken from camps in coastal areas and transported across Turkey to the border to Iran. Now they are also rounded up in large numbers and transported to the Harran container camp in Şanlurfa province, close to the Syrian border. Previously thisContinue reading “What is Happening to Afghans in Turkey?”

For the last two weeks Aegean Boat Report have been contacted by numerous groups of Afghan families, all with one thing in common, they have all been transported from Turkish coastal cities in the North Aegean, to a camp in the outskirts of Iğdir, eastern Turkey, a few kilometers from the border to Iran. TheContinue reading “Afghan Families In Turkey Face Deportation To Iran”

In the morning of March 4, the Turkish coast guard found and rescued 87 people drifting in 4 life rafts outside Datça, Turkey. 26 of the people in the life rafts were small children. I’m sorry to say this, and yes, it’s totally crazy, but people being left drifting in life rafts in the AegeanContinue reading “26 Children Left Helplessly Drifting In Life Rafts By The Greek Coast Guard”

On Thursday February 29, at 18.30, Aegean Boat Report were contacted by a group of 18 people, 15 adults and 3 children, from Afghanistan and Palestine, who had arrived on the Greek island of Farmakonisi. The group was scared, and asked for assistance so that they could be taken to the nearest port of safety,Continue reading “Pushbacks Continues Unhindered And Unchallenged In Greece”