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.
The families contacted us and expressed deep concern of being deported, first to Iran, and then back to Taliban in Afghanistan. They told us there was between 6 and 8 buses that drove together in each group, and the people onboard were all Afghan Families, they estimated over 1.000 people total.
We have previously heard of single unregistered men without any papers being deported to Iran, but this is different. This time they removed large groups of registered Afghan families, men, women and a large number of children, many who have been living in Turkey for years. People even provided pictures of their Turkish papers.
According to the people who contacted us they were given very short notice, some under one hour, to pack up their things, only one bag each, and be ready to be transported. No information was given on why they suddenly was moved, and to where.
Last week we followed three different large groups of Afghan families, one group from Ayvacik camp, Çanakkale, and two groups from Izmir, they all were transported almost 2000km, across Turkey, to the Iğdır Göçmen Camp, eastern Turkey, question is why?
Under their transport to the camp, and after their arrival, they shared location data, pictures and videos, and we can clearly see that we are not talking about only single men, quite the opposite.
We had contact with several people from the camp in Iğdır, and they told us that they would be deported to Iran. We of course have no official information from Turkish authorities, that they will be deported, and they most likely wouldn’t tell us if they did, because if this is in fact the case, this would be a violation of international law, and even Turkish law, to deport people with papers registered in Turkey, to Iran.
From all the phones we previously had contact with from the camp in eastern Turkey, connection has now been lost. The reason for this is of course unknown, but before we lost contact with them, they told us that groups of single men had been rounded up, all phones taken away from them, before transported out of the camp, location unknown.
We are concerned that Afghan families are being illegally deported from Turkey to Iran, and from there to Afghanistan, that for many would mean certain death.
The North Aegean region is the main entry point into Europe for Afghans, we especially see this on the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos, where thousands of Afghans have arrived in the last months, and are by far the largest group registered on the island. After this mass transport from these coastal areas in Turkey, arrivals of Afghans on the Greek Aegean islands, especially Lesvos, have been drastically reduced.
We have had contact with many people from Afganistan arriving on the Greek islands lately, and we have seen a steep increase in Afghans crossing the Aegean Sea into Europe that started several months ago. We have many times asked these groups why they take the risk on this very dangerous journey, especially traveling with large numbers of small children. Every time they have replied, “we are no longer safe in Turkey, they will deport us back to Afghanistan”, and “we fear Taliban more than the sea”.
Meetings between Turkey and Greece on the topic of “migration flow” has been ongoing since the end of last year, perhaps this is what is beginning to bear fruit.
We read in the press last week that the Greek Aegean islands will launch fast-track visas for Turkish tourists from April 1. The announcement followed an agreement by Athens and Ankara, approved by the EU, to revive a previous scheme the special Schengen Express Visa program for Turkish citizens wishing to visit certain eastern Aegean islands.
This sounds all too familiar, “paying” Turkey to do our dirty work, as we tried with the EU-Turkey Deal, all in the name of “protecting” the borders of Europe, without any concern for the pain and suffering we inflict on those in the receiving end.
We are deeply concerned for the safety and the fate of the Afghan families who have been transported to a camp close to the Iranian border, and believe that they will be illegally deported, if not already, then soon, if nothing is done to try to prevent it.
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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 Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, has become so normal that nobody even bats an eyelid anymore. It’s just how it is. Something so outrageous has become normalized.
I don’t know what anyone finds “normal” about kidnapping groups of people, stealing all their belongings, beating parents up in front of their screaming children, kidnapping people and forcing them, many times at gunpoint, into life rafts and leaving them drifting at sea. If small children can’t climb down into the rafts they are thrown down by masked men. This isn’t normal behaviour, there is absolutely nothing normal about any of this: it’s totally and utterly disgusting. But nobody lifts a finger to even try to stop this madness. Have we gone totally off the reservation?
In the last four years, 24.000 people have been left drifting in 1.400 life rafts in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, amongst them almost 5.000 small children. The number of children alone is equivalent to over 450 football teams or 160 school classes. Does any of this affect us?
The problem is that nobody really sees these people for what they are. To many people, they are just statistics, numbers on a sheet, nothing anyone can relate to: no faces, no eyes, everything is blurred to protect their identity, their right to privacy. But the question is, by blurring their faces, are we protecting “them” or “us”? By not seeing, maybe we protect ourselves. What we can’t relate to is easy to just overlook. We don’t get involved because it’s not about us, it’s about “them”, and “them” isn’t real people, just statistics, a number on a sheet, nothing more.
Very few of us get emotional over statistics, but a picture can move the entire world. We saw clearly how a picture of a little lifeless body of Alan Kurdi, a child in a red t-shirt and blue shorts, touched our hearts a few years ago, made people stand up and get involved. Would that have happened if we had blurred it? Highly unlikely.
Why? because we saw that this could have been our child, our neighbours child, the child of our relatives or friends. So we got emotional, we reacted and we acted. Those two are usually firmly connected, cause and effect.
Most of the pictures posted in this post came from the case we reported in which 87 people, human beings, just like you and me, were left drifting in four life rafts in the middle of the sea a few days ago. None of these pictures have been pixelated, a decision we made to try to underline the fact that these are actually real people. They are not merely statistics on a sheet, they are in fact you and me, nothing more, nothing less.
I usually pixelate pictures before I publish them. It means I am sometimes the only one who sees the real people behind the blur: their faces, their eyes, sometimes eyes filled with life and hope, others just like a black hole. I see kids smiling, adults crying, despair, relief, anger, even happiness, though the latter not as often as I would like. By pixelating everyone I remove all of it, and it’s as if I’m removing their humanity, their being. Many times I find this very difficult. Necessary, but difficult.
This time I just couldn’t. I saw their faces, especially of the children, and I couldn’t cover them up. I have done it thousands of times before, but this time it just felt tremendously wrong, as if I erased them by doing so.
I’m sorry to dose who feel offended by this post. I feel you. My intention isn’t to offend anyone, but to try to give something back of the things I have “taken” from “you” and “them” over the years by removing what makes “them” human. “They” deserve so much more, “they” deserve to be seen as the human beings they are, and “we” deserve to be given the opportunity to react.
Real life, “theirs” and “ours”, isn’t pixelated, and we very much need to see the fruits of “our” creation, perhaps now more than ever.
Please take your time, look closely at these pictures, their faces, and ask yourself: would you have had the heart to throw them into life rafts in the middle of the sea? If not, ask yourself why? Because this is what’s being done on a daily basis in the Aegean Sea, it’s done in your name, on your watch. You are even paying for it.
By not reacting, and not acting, we are ALL complicit in crimes against humanity. They need to be stopped before it’s too late.
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, provided with food, water and medicine attention, and given the opportunity to apply for asylum in accordance with international law.
The problem was that they had by accident or deliberately, it’s difficult to say, arrived on a desert island, and the only people present were military personnel from the base on the island, and the only way off this island was to inform Greek authorities.
Farmakonisi is a small uninhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese, present only a Greek military garrison.
The group provided us with pictures, videos and geolocation data, it shows without a doubt that they are on Farmakonisi.
We advised that people from the group should to go to the military station and make their presence known, not because it’s a safe solution, it’s definitely not, but because it’s the only solution on this island, and that they first contacted 112 and informed that they were on the island.
As far as they informed us, they refused to go to the military base on the island, and that they instead had contacted 112 and informed of their situation.
At 04.20 a.m. on Friday morning, we lost all contact with the group, we assumed that the group had been found by the military personnel on the island, and that they had been ordered to turn off their phones.
We hoped that the group had been found and transported to the camp on Leros, as the group who arrived the day before them. Unfortunately no people from Farmakonisi had been registered in the camp on Leros on Friday.
On Friday at 11.55 a.m. Turkish coast guard reported to have found 18 people, 3 of them small children, adrift in a life raft outside the Menderes district, north east of Samos, almost 50 miles from Farmakonisi.
When we compare pictures and videos taken on Farmakonisi, with footage taken by the Turkish coast guard when they were found, there is absolutely no doubt, it’s the same group.
The group had been arrested by military personnel on Farmakonisi, and incarcerated in a shed surrounded by a barb wire fence close to the pier on the island. The group was thoroughly searched, all their belongings were taken away from them, phones, money, papers and bags.
They stayed locked up until sunrise, when a boat from the Greek Coast Guard arrived, onboard masked men carrying guns and batons. The boat was described as gray and white, with blue stripes in the front.
After another thorough search they were taken onboard the coast guard vessel, and covered by a big plastic tarpaulin. They were ordered to sit under the tarpaulin and under no circumstances tru to look out. If they moved or spoke, the masked men would hit them with a stick, shouting “shut the fuck up” and “get your ass down”, people were terrified.
After several hours the boat stopped and everyone was forced into what they described as a “rubber ring”, what they refer to is a life raft, where the orange protective cover has been removed, only the black rubber tubes left.
The cover has been removed because the Greek manufacturer of these life rafts, Lalizas from Piraeus, don’t want their logo to be visible in connection with these criminal activities, not all PR is good PR, especially when you are marketing your products as “life saving equipment”, and not tools of illegal deportation that could potentially kill you.
The cover of the life rafts are now always removed, to protect the commercial interests of a Greek multimillion company, without any regard to the safety of people placed in these life rafts. Without the orang cover, the life saving capability of these rafts are drastically reduced, one wave is enough to fill it up and capsize it, drowning everyone inside. It’s quite clear the Greek commercial interests are more important than saving people lives, even for Lalizas.
The group was transported almost 50 miles on a Greek Coast Guard vessel, in brought daylight, so that they could illegally deport them.
This shows the determination and willingness of the Greek authorities, to do almost anything to stop people from applying for international protection in Greece, violating international laws and human rights seems to be of no concern for the Greek authorities.
This isn’t something new, these illegal pushbacks have been going on for years in the Aegean Sea, it’s extremely well documented by international human rights organizations, NGO’s, international media and EU bodies, everyone knows what is going on and who is responsible.
In a normal decent world this would not have been allowed to continue, but in today’s Europe it seems that we are willing to sacrifice our values, laws and principles in the name of border protection. Not only is the European Commission, who are there to protect the rule of law in Europe, looking the other way, they are actively supporting and encouraging countries like Greece to continue, by financing their operations and deploying more Frontex resources.
If a EU citizen rounded up a group of random people at gunpoint, strip searched and beat them up, stole all their belongings, handcuffed them with plastic ties, took them on a boat out to sea, forced them into a life raft and left them helplessly drifting. This person would be facing decades behind bars if caught, most likely also had to go through a long psychological evaluation, a person capable of such atrocities is most likely not in the right place mentally.
What Greek authorities are doing in the Aegean Sea is most definitely illegal, no question about it. Instead of putting those responsible behind bars and question their sanity, we are applauding them, paying them handsomely for their efforts, and giving them medals for a job well done, I don’t know who is the most insane, them or us..
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On Friday February 23, a group of 30 people arrived on the militarized desert island of Farmakonisi.
The group contacted Aegean Boat Report and asked for assistance, they begged to be taken to a camp, and given the opportunity to apply for international protection, but the Greek authorities had other plans.
The people on Farmakonisi provided pictures, videos and location data, that proved without a doubt that they were on the island.
Farmakonisi is a militarized desert island, where only Greek military and coast guard are allowed to go. Anyone arriving on this island is at the mercy of the Greek authorities, that many times means being robbed of all belongings, beaten, and forced back out to sea, left helplessly drifting in life rafts.
From the video we can see a Lambro 57 close to shore on the island, the people also told us that a drone was flying over them, so it’s quite clear that Greek authorities knew they were there.
Several soldiers from the military base on the island approached the group, they were quickly rounded up and taken to a shed surrounded by barbed wire next to the piere on the island.
The Lambro 57 seen in the video, was already in port. The group was handed over to masked men from the coast guard vessel in dark uniforms. One by one they were stripped of all belongings, bags, money, papers and phones, before taken onboard the coast guard vessel, after 30 minutes the vessel was heading back out to sea.
Under normal circumstances, people who arrive in this area would be taken to Leros, but on this day, nor the following day, nobody was registered in the camp on Leros from Farmakonisi. A group of 30 people, six of them small children, had just magically disappeared into thin air, again.
From pictures and videos published by the Turkish coast guard, it’s clear that these people are the same as the once contacting Aegean Boat Report from the desert militarized island of Farmakonisi.
The Greek Coast Guard transported the group 40 miles before they forced them into two life rafts and left them helplessly drifting in the Aegean Sea.
Since the tragic Pylos shipwreck in June last year, where Greek authorities killed over 650 people in an effort to push the boat towards Italian waters, there has been a mutual understanding that Greek authorities have stopped pushing back people that have arrived on Greek soil.
This is not entirely accurate, Greek authorities stopped pushing back people who arrived on the larger islands, like Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Kos, but arrivals on the smaller islands, like Farmakonisi, Simi, Agathonisi and Kalolimnos continued to magically evaporate into thin air.
We have several times been close to revealing the truth, but the lack of 100% clear evidence has stopped us going public. In the meantime more and more life rafts have been mysteriously popping up in the Aegean Sea, without any clear indication where they came from.
Last month, 9 of January, a group of 23 people had arrived on Inousses, north east of Chios, after informing authorities they miraculously disappeared.
After arriving the group walked to the village on the island to make their presence known. Locals informed police and coast guard arrived and told they would be taken to Chios, they never arrived.
The group was found drifting in a life raft by the Turkish coast guard outside Cesme, east of Chios.
Due to insufficient footage from the Turkish coast guard, we were unable to match pictures of the people from the raft to the people that had arrived on Inousses. We had testimonies from the victims on what had happened, footage from Inousses, but didn’t have sufficient footage to match the victims, therefore the case was not made public.
Pushbacks in the Aegean Sea continues unhindered and unchallenged by the European Commission. Since the Pylos shipwreck 14 June last year we have registered almost 700 pushbacks performed by Greek authorities in the Aegean Sea, where 20.000 people have been illegally pushed back from Greek territory.
In the months since the tragic shipwreck in June, 200 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying almost 4.000 people, it’s business as usual for the Greek authorities in the Aegean Sea, fully supported by Frontex and the European Commission, funded by European taxpayers money.
After dark on Monday November 20 a rubber boat carrying 17 Afghans, six of them small children, sat out from Turkey towards the Greek island of Lesvos.
They hoped that they would reach the island within a few hours, in the cover of darkness, that the Greek coast guard and Frontex, who are guarding the border, wouldn’t spot them, unfortunately they were mistaken.
Deep inside Greek territory waters, outside the north east side of Lesvos, a Greek coast guard vessel approached them. They knew what was installed for them, they had been pushed back several times before by the Greek coast guard.
They tried their best to outrun the coast guard vessel, but they didn’t stand a chance. Several times the coast guard vessel, a Lambro 57, ID number ΛΣ-614, belonging to the Hellenic coast guard, stationed on Lesvos, rammed the fragile rubber boat.
Anyone familiar with the sea knows that such maneuvering is extremely dangerous, and can easily result in damaging a small rubber boat, sending people onboard into the sea. We have numerous times seen this extremely dangerous and reckless behavior by the Greek coast guard.
In the last months there has been several shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea, where people have drowned after their rubber boats has gone down. Greek coast guard has claimed the these boats has gone down without their interference, and that they only have done their utmost to save lives, after seeing this we can only wonder what really happened. Survivors from these shipwreck has been conveniently “shielded” from the press, for their own “protection”, and not been allowed to speak to anyone.
The rubber boat was stopped, and masked officers demanded that they handed over their phones, in which they did, you do as you are told when someone is pointing a gun at you. Phones were thrown in the sea, other belongings and valuables were confiscated.
The Greek coast guard vessel towed the rubber boat back towards Turkish waters, and sat them adrift in the middle of the sea in the dark. The engine the masked officers had taken off the boat and thrown in the sea, they had no phones to call for help, all they could do was wait, hopefully someone would find them.
At 21.40 the Turkish coast guard found a rubber boat drifting outside Ayvacik, Turkey, onboard was 17 Afghans, six of them small children, everyone was taken back to Turkey and arrested for illegally leaving the country, also the small children.
These cases of illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea performed by the Greek coast guard, on direct orders from the Greek government and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is a direct violation of not only Greek law, but also international laws, Maritime laws and international human rights.
These authorities are happening several times every single day in the Aegean Sea, for the last four years over 75.000 people have been illegally and brutally pushed back by Greek authorities in this area, nobody, not even the European Commission, seem to have any problems with it, all in the name of border protection, paid for by EU taxpayers money.
It’s time to put an end to this, it’s time to put these criminals where they belong, in jail, behind bars. We can no longer tolerate that these atrocities are performed in our names on our watch.
In the early morning of Monday November 13, at 07.30, a boat carrying 23 afghans, mostly families with children, was stopped 100 meters from land east of Korakas, Lesvos north by a vessel from the Greek coast guard.
In the video, that was taken by one of the passengers, we can clearly see the cliffs of Korakas on the right side. We can also see a little white building on the left in the first 10 seconds of the video, it’s the chapel “Agios Theodoras”. There is absolutely no question where this video was taken, any local can confirm that this is east of Korakas, Lesvos north.
Masked men used boat hooks with iron tips to destroy the engine, in the process hitting and injuring several people onboard, amongst them an old man and a child. The masked coast guard officers took no notice of this, and continued to hit down hard toward the fragile rubber boat until the engine was destroyed.
Everyone onboard was terrified, we can hear people screaming hysterically, it’s just unbelievable that members of a European coast guard agency, who have sworn an oath to protect human lives, can perform such atrocities, it’s just appalling.
The group of 23 men, women and children were taken onboard the coast guard vessel, the masked officers told them that they would take them to a “UN camp”, this was most definitely a lie.
When everyone was onboard the coast guard vessel, the masked men ordered everyone to hand over their phones, money and other valuables, those who refused were brutally beaten. All phones was immediately thrown into the sea, it was quite obvious that they didn’t want any evidence of their crimes.
In most cases people don’t hide their phones, in fear of what will happen to them if the phones are found. This time one of them kept his cool, and hid the phone under his child’s clothes, this phone was later used to call the international emergency number 112 that resulted in them being rescued.
The group was kept on the coast guard vessel for almost two hours, the vessel, a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel ΛΣ-144, belonging to the Hellenic coast guard, stationed on Lesvos. While onboard, the vessel moved slowly away from Lesvos towards the Turkish sea border, they had never any intention on taking anyone to a camp.
At the Turkish sea border outside Ayvacik, the Greek coast guard vessel forced the group back in the rubber boat, 23 people, men, women and children, those who couldn’t clime down into the boat was thrown down, everything was done at gunpoint, they had no choice.
The Greek coast guard vessel pulled away, and the group was left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea, in a rubber boat with no engine, the Greek officers had taken it off and dropped it into the sea. Luckily they had managed to hide one phone, this was used to contact rescue services, and at 11.05 am they were found drifting outside Ayvacik by the Turkish coast guard.
Some might say this is an isolated incident, unfortunately it’s not, this is the normal routine happening every single day all over the Aegean Sea. In the last four years 75.000 people have been illegally pushed back in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, all in the name of border protection.
This was all done in brought daylight in an area heavily monitored by Frontex, strangely enough, nobody saw anything, no report was filed, all reported to be normal. And in many aspects it’s actually exactly what it is, normal, because this has now been going on for four years, night and day, everyone knows that these atrocities are taking place, but nobody is doing anything to stop it.
These men onboard the coast guard vessel isn’t coast guard officers, just criminals with a badge, they and so many other officers in the Greek coast guard should be put behind bars where they belong. To hide behind “just following orders” won’t save them, because they know that these orders are illegal, in direct violation of the law of the sea, international law and human rights law.
At some point, sooner or later, everyone will face judgment for their crimes, let’s hope, for the sake of humanity, that for these criminals it’s sooner than later.
For three months people arriving on the Greek Aegean islands have been allowed to stay, pushbacks from land stopped, life rafts almost disappeared from the Aegean Sea, the situation was seemingly getting better. This is at least what Greek authorities wanted everyone to believe, the facts tells a different story, and it’s about to go from bad to worse.
Since the Adriana sank in June killing over 650 people, Greek authorities have been forced to change some of their illegal ways when dealing with new arrivals. The normal practice for over three years has been to remove as many as they could, by any means possible, this also included kidnapping people on land and leaving them helplessly drifting in life rafts at sea.
Picture by MSF
Greek authorities were forced to do something, the EU Commission, Frontex and the international press put pressure on Greece, they needed to change, and seemingly they did. For three months they did everything in their power to try to change the damaged reputation of the Greek coast guard, and they really put on a good show.
For three months we watched while Greek coast guard rescued anyone they could get their hands on close to the Aegean islands, if they actually needed to be rescued was irrelevant, it looked good on the news.
While this PR show went on for months, Greek authorities not only continued pushing back vulnerable people further out to sea, they drastically scaled up their operations, pushing back more people than ever before.
Aegean Boat Report has over the last weeks published several videos to show what is going on on the Greek side of the Aegean Sea, aware from the eyes of the public. We assume that the video cameras on all the vessels of the Greek coast guard participating in these inhumane acts was unfortunately all out of order, luckily all cameras worked perfectly on those same vessels while involved in rescue operations close to the Aegean islands.
After several months of this very well played PR campaign, everyone seems to be convinced, Frontex back’s of, the EU commission stopes asking questions and most journalists lost interest, it’s as if the deliberate sinking of the Adriana where over 650 men, women and children was killed never happened.
The Adriana sank June 14 2023 killing over 650 People
Suddenly we hear that local organizations on the islands is talking to the press about pushbacks going down, that the Greek authorities are now paying more attention to international law and human rights, solely based on what they can see with their own eyes, that people arriving on the islands are now longer pushed back.
Don’t take me wrong, it’s fantastic that people arriving on Greek soil are finally being allowed to stay, but the same should go for all people entering Greek territory, sea or land, the law makes no difference. So to solely base such comments on what you can sea and believe is right, it’s not only reckless but extremely dangerous, especially for the people you are trying to protect.
The ripple effects of such comments moves up the “food chain”, from local organizations, international organizations, international press until it lands on the table of European politicians and eventually Frontex, by that time it’s no longer a comment but a well preserved fact, that is used to take decisions that could potentially impact the lives of thousands of people.
Over several years Aegean Boat Report has had a finger on the pulse in the Aegean Sea, it’s not much that’s slips under the radar, everything is painstakingly documented and registered. When we see large international organizations publishing information that is not only misleading, but straight out false, we have an obligation to speak up and set the record straight.
Pushbacks in the Aegean didn’t go down after the sinking of Adriana, quite the opposite, it skyrocketed, never before has so man people been pushed back in the Aegean Sea, ever. Since Adriana pushbacks in the Aegean Sea has increased by a staggering 320%, and continues to rise, those claiming otherwise has been misled by a well staged PR campaign and an intense wish for things to finally improve, I’m sorry to say but you have been lied to.
So how is this possible, we know that the Greek coast guard isn’t the most robust in Europe, it relies heavily on Funding from EU, so how could they possibly have pull this off? We believe it’s fair to say that this huge increase in pushback activity at sea, at the same time as they have pick up thousands of people from boats close to the islands, would be impossible to pull off without massive support from outside sources, but who would support Greece in these massive human rights violations?
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has a heavy presence in Greece and the Aegean Sea, we assume that they have had something to do with this massive “achievement” in the name of border protection. In a normal world Frontex would have had to report if they observed violations, so far this month we have registered 160 pushback cases, I wonder how many reports have been filed by Frontex in relation to these pushbacks, I assume very few, if any at all.
Greek authorities are seemingly “off the hook”, and can continue their human rights abuses without further scrutiny, and it didn’t take them long to go back to their old habits leaving vulnerable men, women and children helplessly drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea, it’s again business as usual.
So far this month 65 life rafts have been picked up drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying almost 1.500 people. All of these life rafts came from the same manufacturer, Lalizas in Piraeus, Greece, who also happens to be the main supplier of life rafts to the Greek coast guard.
And again, did Frontex observe any of this?, it’s almost impossible to imagine that with their heavy presence in the area and advanced technology, that they didn’t, but this is what Frontex is claiming. It’s quite remarkable and extremely convenient to claim no knowledge, to be able to continue operating, supporting a country who is systematically violating international laws and human rights.
After four years and hundreds of well documented reports by journalists, international organizations and EU bodies, on human rights violations in Greece, there is absolutely no doubt on what is going on, and who is responsible. That Frontex remains in Greece despite all this, is no coincidence, they are basically carrying out EU policy, supporting human rights violations funded by Europeans tax payers money.
In a time when there is war in Europe, and the Middle East is about to explode, the situation in the Aegean Sea is no longer on anyone’s agenda. Greek authorities can continue their human rights abuses without scrutiny, and we expect the situation in the Aegean to escalate throughout the year.
European countries are now supporting the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee, at the same time these countries are refusing to help victims of wars they have previously supported.
Artwork by Luiso García
A few months from now more Palestinians will be on our doorsteps asking for international protection, as a direct result of Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The same countries who refused to adopt the UN Resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”, is the same countries who are pressuring for stricter migration rules, ironic isn’t it..
Fore once I can say I’m proud that the Norwegian government took a solid stand, against the atrocities performed by the Israeli Authorities, one of very few European countries to do so. 45 countries abstained from voting, half of them from Europe trying to stay “neutral” while supporting Israel at the same time.
Some say this is a historic document, and that the world will remember the nations who stood for “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations”, the ‘axis of evil’ who stood against it, and those who remained ‘neutral’ in times of oppression.
On June 26 we published a disturbing video from Kos showing 14 people trapped and gagged in the back of a van, this is what we published.
The video went viral the moment it was published, viewed on Twitter by over 500.000 people the first day, it created a lot of attention, and by some very unwanted attention, especially for the Mayor of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras. In the middle of tourist season it was bad for business to have such disturbing images, showing refugees being tortured coming out from his island, so he had to act.
Normally any responsible authority would immediately launch an investigation to get to the bottom of it, to find the truth and arrest those responsible of such atrocities. Instead Nikitaras used the Greek political elite’s standard response, when being criticized for human rights violations, attacking the people who highlight violence and abuse of men, women and children who seek safety.
First he went out in the local press saying he wanted to file a lawsuit against ABR for “defaming” Kos, later he went on national tv lying about our organization, that we were obsessed with Kos, he claimed the video was ‘an act of revenge against the Greek justice system.’, and that ‘there is nothing to show that the video is real.
The Mayor on Kos did everything in his power to try to slander the organization who had published this horrific video, but did he do anything to look into the facts in this case, to make sure that this wasn’t happening on Kos? The answer is no, he did absolutely nothing to find the truth, so anyone should ask themselves why, why would a mayor do nothing to investigate such criminal acts?
The answer is quite obvious, this mayor is fully aware of what has been going on on his island for years, not only is he aware but he’s also approving, and if necessary covering it up, as he tried his best to do in this case as well. His close relation with police and coast guard on the island would make it practically impossible to not know what is going on on his island on a daily basis.
When it comes to this case, we firmly believe that the mayor on kos knew the truth when he went to the press, and that he did so to try to cover it up, trying to shift focus from this horrible crime committed on his island. We have waited a long time to reveal the truth about this case, not because we couldn’t have done it earlier but to try to protect the victims from the van. It’s now time to set the record straight, to explain why we did what we did, and what the results of our actions was.
When we published this horrific video, people were still trapped inside this van, and the chances of them being taken to the camp on kos was slim to none. We know the drill all to well, capture, incarcerate, remove and dispose, this has been the common practice of the Greek authorities for years when it comes to arriving refugees on the Greek islands.
“My hands were cuffed but i could get the phone and took videos”“She is begging for help and can send videos”“Please come and help us, we will send the videos”
We knew the risks of publishing this video when we did, and knew that we would be “attacked” by those who didn’t want this to come out. The video was published in an attempt to create enough attention so that the people who was holding them captured would find it difficult to go through with their plans, in this aspect our actions was a great success.
The spotlight was already on Greece for human rights violations and violations of international law after the sinking of Adriana, where over 600 people died. Also the revealing video published by The New York Times showing refugees being removed from Lesvos and left helplessly drifting in a life raft had created a lot of pressure from the EU and Frontex demanding answers, they just didn’t need another scandal on their hands.
After this video was published they couldn’t risk that these 14 people suddenly popped up in a life raft in the Aegean Sea, it would have created to much attention, to many questions from the international press, so they decided to change their plans, so what really happened?
We have no doubt that the group in the van was destined for deportation, in the video we can hear one of their captures telling to taken them straight to Marmari, and that’s not the name of the camp on Kos but a are by the sea north west on kos, far from the camp.
Normally, since this group was hunted down and captured in the morning hours of Monday June 26, if intended to be taken to a camp, they would have been registered as arrived in the official registration published by Greek authorities on the 26 of June, but no arrival’s were registered on kos this day.
Official arrival information Greek authorities June 26 2023
The following day we can see from the registration that 13 people was registered, not 14 as was reported from the van, we can now confirm that the 13 registered as arrived on Kos on June 27 was the people in the video destined for deportation.
Official arrival information Greek authorities June 27 2023
When this video was published and went viral, the faith of the group changed drastically, Greek authorities were no longer in position to take them back to sea and leave them in a life raft, as their plan was, and what is routinely done in these cases, so they needed to find an alternative solution.
After the video was made public, the group was first kept in the van, then taken to a secret location on Kos for hours until they decided how to deal with the situation. This is why they were registered the day after their arrival, on the 27 of June. They were taken to the camp at night, in the cover of darkness, less people would see them and potentially be able to identify them from the video that was published. The group was also kept isolated in a closed area in the camp, away from the general population, everything was done to keep a lid on any information of these group.
The people registered from the van this day were mostly Palestinians from Lebanon, but also a Syrian family, a man, his wife and their son, the boy is in the video wearing a Spiderman t-shirt. 14 people was taken to the camp this night, only 13 was registered in the official registration. The Syrian father was separated from his family, for what reason is not clear, but possibly arrested for smuggling.
It’s the normal practice of Greek authorities to arrest at least one person from every arriving boat and charge them for smuggling, because someone must have driven the boat towards land, there are over 2000 people in Greek prisons facing hard sentences based on the fact that they are suspected of driving a boat carrying people over Greek borders.
People from the group has been scared of what would happen to them if they talked about what they have been the victims of, while being locked up by the same authorities who was responsible for this inhumane treatment, and we know that the group has been threatened, told by officials of what to say, and what to keep for themselves and not speak about or there would be consequences.
People working in the camp on Kos, and people living there has now for some time been aware of the identity of this group who arrived on June 27, especially the boy in the Spiderman t-shirt, he was impossible to overlook. We also must assume that the mayor of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, is well informed on the fact that the people from the video published by Aegean Boat Report on June 26, tied up and taped in the back of a van, was taken on kos, and that the people in the video now is incarcerated in the camp on his island.
The 13 people in the camp on kos has been given legal advice and procedural assistance with their asylum applications by Greek organizations present on Kos. UΝHCR on Kos has told us that they have been aware of the case and has taken appropriate actions, exactly what actions they wouldn’t comment on due to confidentiality.
We aexpect and demand that the mayor on Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, issues an official apology to our organization, for slandering and lying about us in the Greek press, with the same enthusiasm as when he publicly attacked us, the same apology should be given to the people of Kos, in witch he lied to and tried to mislead.
Aegean Boat Report will continue to monitor the situation for people on the move in the Aegean Sea, document, and expose those trying to violate the rights of others, we will not be silenced.
Since 1 March 2020, the Greek government’s main response to refugees arriving on Greek islands has been to send masked men to hunt them down, arrest, rob, and in some cases rape or otherwise sexually abuse them, before forcing them back to the sea, leaving them to drift helplessly in life rafts.
The systematic violation of international law and human rights in the name of ‘border protection’ in the Aegean Sea has been a trademark for Greece’s Right wing Nea Dimokratia government for more than three years, forcing more than 20.000 men, women and children, into more than 1.200 life rafts, leaving them helplessly drifting at sea.
It’s not as if this illegal practice by the Greek authorities has been a secret: hundreds of articles have been published by investigative journalists over the years, international organisations, and UN and EU bodies, have documented and criticised these violations, without being able, or in some cases willing, to put an end to them.
Many of us trying to assist people on the move have asked ourselves what it would take to end this madness, or at least force some positive change.
In 2022, the OLAF report on Frontex was made public: the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency was shown to have carried out cover ups of human rights violations in EU member states by the agency and its staff, and to have helped cover up illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers from Greece.
Lea Rossa / DER SPIEGEL; Fotos: Emrah Gurel / AP; European Anti-Fraud Office
Surely this would force change? some of us thought. And something did change: the situation got worse.
On 19 May this year, The New York Times published a shocking video showing men, women and children being pushed back from Lesvos, and left helplessly drifting in a life raft, by the Greek coast guard.
Picture from video Fayad Mulla/The New York Tomes
A video of this magnitude should be powerful enough to force the head of state to resign. But not in Greece. Absolutely nothing changed.
The European Parliament and EU Commission have been unable, and more likely unwilling, to act against the widespread human rights violations committed by a member state. As a result, thousands of people have drowned, and vulnerable people have had tremendous human suffering inflicted upon them by a developed state in the world’s richest ever political bloc, and by the bloc itself.
Thousands of people have drowned, when one person dying at sea because of deliberate policies imposed by a government or governments should have been enough to end those policies immediately.
Failing this, thousands of refugees drowning while trying to reach safety in Europe – which has in fact been allowed to happen – should have forced European authorities to act, but it did not, and they did not.
On 14 June 2023, a fishing boat carrying an estimated 750 people sank off the coast of Pylos, Greece.
Only 104 people were rescued, meaning more than 600 people, 100 of them children, drowned.
We now know this was the direct result of the Greek authorities pushback and no-rescue tactics: that – and there is no other way to put this, and no way to hide from the overwhelming evidence which proves this to be true – more than 600 people were killed by the Greek authorities.
The tragic sinking of the Adriana fishing boat made headlines all over the world, another testimony to the effort and dedication of investigative journalists to uncover the truth: without their tireless work we most likely would have been kept in the dark, whereas, instead, to try to cover this up now would be futile.
But what actions have the European Commission taken in response? Zero.
It’s a scandal, and a disgrace. The Commission has called for a Greek investigation – literally telling the criminals in this case to investigate themselves – only after which will action be taken, if any is at all.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to believe that a Greek secret investigation would find the Greek authorities guilty of any wrongdoing. Such a thing has absolutely never happened.
Frontex on the other hand, who was involved in this disaster, has launched an investigation into the sinking of the Adriana, the pushback published in The New York Times and a pushback at sea outside Lesvos, where there is indication that a Portuguese Frontex vessel was involved.
The clear implied outcome of any and all these investigations is that Frontex may invoke Article 46 of its charter, and suspend all operations in Greece because of the Greek government’s persistent violation of human rights and international law.
Whether Frontex will do this will ultimately depend on how the Greek government responds to its questions on the incidents.
The agency’s fundamental rights officer, Jonas Grimheden has, once again, recommended Frontex should suspend its operations in Greece, though so far, it has given no information about how it intends to react, if at all, to the thoroughly-documented, systematic, human rights abuses the Greek government has carried out.
Jonas Grimheden, Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer
But many different scenarios have been debated in the press, from suspending all operations, holding back funding and docking vessels funded by the agency.
And the pressure on the Greek government and its employees to change their ways, and start following international laws, is mounting. The government must, by now, be aware that its abuse of human rights will no longer be tolerated by the international community.
The Greek government knows that if Frontex pulled out all resources from the country, and ended all operational abilities for vessels funded by the agency, it would be in a very difficult situation, and it does appear that it has been forced to change, at least for now.
Are these changes the result of an ultimatum by Frontex? We cannot, of course, say so for sure. But we firmly believe so, because it is hard to imagine changes being made on this scale and with this speed without one.
Aegean Boat Report has been monitoring the situation in the Aegean Sea for six years, and we started noticing changes – small, but noticeable to the trained eye – the week after the Adriana sank.
The number of people found drifting in life rafts suddenly dropped: in the last two years an average of 10 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea every week. So far this month, a period of nearly four weeks, only three life rafts have been found, carrying 51 people. Based on what has happened since 1 March 2020, that’s nothing short of a miracle.
By comparison, in July 2022, 65 life rafts were found drifting in the Aegean Sea, carrying almost 1200 people. In May 2023, the last full month before the Adriana sank, 26 rafts were found, carrying 467 people.
At the same time, the number of people officially registered as arrived on the Greek islands since the Adriana sank has skyrocketed. Last week was the first week for many years in which registered arrivals exceeded the number of people picked up by the Turkish coast guard.
In the last five weeks, registered arrivals on the islands have increased by 190 per cent, and in the same period, pushbacks from the islands have decreased 90 per cent. The pattern is unmistakable.
Prior to the sinking of the Adriana, the normal practice of the Greek Coast Guard was to push back boats, no matter how close they were to the Greek islands, or in what condition they were found.
In recent years, when refugees have arrived on the Aegean Islands they have run and hidden to avoid being found by Greek authorities and illegally deported to Turkey.
They have not done so ‘only’ because they have heard someone say they will be returned: they have experienced this first hand, many of them several times.
We will not claim the Greek Coastguard is not pushing back boats at sea – it consistently has done and we see no evidence it has ceased to do this – but those found close to the main Aegean Island hotspots, especially those in need of rescue, have for the last few weeks actually been rescued and taken to the closest port of safety.
This is precisely what Coastguards are supposed to do, but under orders from the Greek government, the Greek Coastguard has not done so for many years: that it is now doing so is momentous and astonishing, even as we must stress that what we are saying here is that it is momentous and astonishing that the Greek Coastguard is doing its actual job, providing the sole service for which it exists at all.
People arriving in Greece know that they will be hunted down by masked violent men, robbed and beaten, before being forced back to sea and left drifting in a life raft. But not anymore, at least for the time being.
We can, with a fair degree of certainty, say that those who actually manage to arrive on the Greek islands, are no longer hunted down by masked men and pushed back, they are being allowed to stay, and given the opportunity to apply for international protection.
It appears, at last, that the Greek authorities have been forced to change their ways.
It is an exceptionally positive development, though one – let us not forget – that should never have been necessary, and which came at the cost of the completely avoidable deaths, in fact the killing, of at least 600 men, women and children.
And even that would probably not have been enough, were it not for the work of dedicated organisations and individuals, including Aegean Boat Report, humanitarian actors, and news reporters dedicated to the truth, as well as to the brave testimonies of people made to suffer serious injury, loss of possessions, and sexual assault, ordered by the Greek government.
We cannot know yet whether this change is one which will last, or merely a ‘lull’ before the government re-starts its despicable, violent, illegal and barbaric behaviour at its sea borders, perhaps when the eyes of the world are diverted to some new horror elsewhere in the world.
But we can promise that we will keep watching, monitoring, talking to people about their experiences, and reporting what we know to you, and anyone else who cares to keep informed.
We wished to report a positive development in the Aegean Sea, but we – and our colleagues engaged in this situation – will not stop watching, and not stop exposing what we find.
On May 19, only four days after the shocking video was published in The New York Times showing Greek authorities pushing back 12 people from Lesvos, 96 people was lefts drifting in 4 life rafts in the middle of the sea. No journalist or EU politician has mentioned them with a single word, no article, no request for investigation, it’s as if their rights have no value.
On Monday may 22, a sailboat carrying 96 people was in distress south west of Methoni, Pelopponese, Greece. Wetter was rough, in high waves and without a working engine they feared for their lives, and contaminated Aegean Boat Report for assistance.
We immediately informed the Greek coast guard, and learned that they already had received a distress call regarding this sailboat, and that a rescue operation had been launched.
People onboard the sailboat told us that they had spoken directly to the Greek coast guard, but no rescue boat had arrived. They feared that the Greek coast guard wouldn’t rescue them, so they contacted several organizations to try to get help, amongst them Aegean Boat Report and Alarmphone.
We lost contact with the group on the sailboat around midnight, Greek coast guard refused to give any further information, and we feared that they had no intention to rescue the passengers and take them to a port of safety, as they are required to do under international maritime law.
The following day Greek coast guard suddenly was keen on providing information, they told us that they had launched a rescue operation but not found any signs of the boat nor the people onboard, and that the boat most likely had traveled towards Italy.
We found this hard to believe since the people onboard had no prior experience in sailing a boat, and the engine on the boat had run out of fuel, so how could they have moved away from the are by themselves, especially as far as Italy. From previous experience we had a pretty good idea about what had happened, and now we only had to wait to confirm our suspicion.
Tuesday afternoon we were informed that the Turkish coast guard had picked up four life rafts in two different locations, a total of 96 people, all claiming to be from the same sailboat that had been in distress close to the greek mainland.
50 people was found drifting in two Greek manufacturer life rafts from Lalizas at 13.25 outside Datça, close to the Greek island of Simi.
Three hours later two other life rafts carrying 46 people was found drifting outside Dalaman, close to the greek island of Rhodes, these life rafts was also from the Greek manufacturer Lalizas from Piraeus.
People rescued by the Turkish coast guard told that they had finally been rescued by the Greek coast guard, everyone was so relieved, they were finally safe, or so they thought.
Greek coast guard didn’t waist any time, on the same day as the shocking report in The New York Times was published, they once again forced vulnerable people into life rafts and left them helplessly drifting in the Aegean Sea. One might think that they would be a bit more careful after a shocking revelation in the international press, but in Greece it’s business as usual.
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis once again lied about his knowledge of the Greek pushback strategy, this time in an interview on CNN, claiming he did not approve of such actions. It’s actually not only hard, but impossible to believe that he don’t know what his own coast guard is doing, and has been doing for years, resources put in to this is enormous.
The rescued people was taken on a big coast guard vessel, transported over 450 miles before they were forced into these life rafts, it’s hard to believe that this was done without authorization from above.
This isn’t the first time people have magically disappeared from one area and suddenly reappeared very close to the Turkish mainland, hundreds of miles away from their original locationhun, not in boats but in life rafts without any engines, nobody ask anyone questions, especially not the EU Commission.
The pushback case published in The New York Times seems to have come as a shock for many, especially some EU politicians. Ylva Johansson went out on Twitter acting all shocked, and has requested Greek authorities to investigate this single case, not all the other 1.200 life raft cases but only this one, as if she haven’t been aware and fully informed on how border management has been carried out by Greek authorities.
So what made that case so special that she has to make a public announcement, telling everyone that this time, for these 12 people, she will actually make an effort and try to do her job, for once. What about the other 20.000 people who have been found drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea for the last 3 years? She has decided, all by herself, that for these 12, 0.02% of all found drifting in life rafts the last 3 years, she will request an independent investigation, If that’s not a total neglect of her duties as a Commissioner and as a human being I don’t know what is.
For the last three years 20.000 people, men, women and children, have been kidnapped, beaten, robbed, sexually abused, raped, tortured and in some cases killed by Greek authorities. They have been forced back to sea and dropped in 1.200 life rafts, and nobody has bothered to initiate any sort of investigation.
The EU Commission seems to have been particularly uninterested in doing anything, perhaps because they are knowingly financing violations of international laws and human rights in Greece.
So far, after over three years, overwhelming amounts of evidence of human rights violations performed by Greek authorities, no infringement procedures have been launched against Greece.
