At least five people were killed when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Türkiye’s Aegean province of Izmir on Monday, the Turkish coast guard said. A further six migrants were rescued.
The coast guard said a search and rescue mission was underway for two other migrants thought to be missing after the rubber boat capsized in stormy weather off the resort city of Çeşme.
HaberTürk news channel said the migrants were trying to reach the Greek island of Chios.
There was no immediate information on the migrants’ nationalities.
The coast guard also said it was searching for a baby that fell in the water from another migrant boat near the Greek island of Lesbos further up north, off the coast of Türkiye’s Balıkesir province.
The migrants who arrived on Lesbos told the Greek authorities, who then notified the Turkish coast guard about the baby.
The coast guard said it continues searching for the baby both by sea and air despite strong rainstorms but is yet to find a trace.
Many boatloads of migrants attempt to make the dangerous sea crossing to reach the Greek islands from the Turkish coast, hoping to eventually make their way to more prosperous European Union countries.
Others attempt to enter Greece by crossing a river that runs along the land border between the two countries.
While many make it to the European Union, many others perish at sea or are pushed back by Greece into Turkish waters in violation of international law.
Athens’ illegal practice has been documented by Türkiye, international human rights groups and charities on many occasions, as well as in accounts of migrants intercepted in the Aegean or land borders.
Greece has made a “recurring practice” of alleged secret, illegal and often brutal deportations back to Türkiye, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report released Oct. 31, citing 50 testimonies over the past two years from migrants.
Athens has strongly denied such so-called “pushbacks,” arguing that its coast guard has saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossing in small boats from Türkiye.
Greece says it needs to protect its borders, which are also those of the European Union, from mass illegal immigration. It has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex.
The MSF warned of “violence on an exceptional scale,” including physical and sexual assault, theft and informal detention, reported to its teams on Lesbos and Samos, the two Greek islands that attract the most migrants.
“Non-assistance (to migrants), violence and pushbacks have become part and parcel of a system of border management” on the two islands, which is pushing migrants to alternative, longer voyages that pose a greater risk of hardship or death, the agency said.
MSF said that “despite extensive and credible evidence,” Greek authorities, the EU and its member states “have failed to hold to account the perpetrators of these violations.”
In June, the EU border agency asked Athens to provide “clarifications and information” on two reported pushback allegations.
That month, a dilapidated and overloaded former trawler capsized and sank off Pylos in the Peloponnese, drowning 82 people, while hundreds were reported missing.
Forty of the survivors have filed a group lawsuit against Greek authorities for failing to take appropriate action before the boat sank.
The MSF said the current situation at Europe's borders "is the result of EU policies that condone and enable continued violence against individuals in need."
In December, Greece and Türkiye are expected to discuss a renewal of a 2016 EU deal restricting migration.
Greece's Migration Ministry this week said arrivals began increasing in mid-2022, peaking in September before declining in October.
In the first nine months of the year, migrant arrivals in Greece spiked to over 29,700 people, compared to 11,000 in the same period in 2022, the ministry said.
