The illegal pushbacks of migrants by Greek elements in the Aegean and the subsequent Turkish Coast Guard Command rescue operations have found coverage in Swiss media.
The public broadcaster RSI for Italian-speaking Switzerland reported Türkiye’s rescue of 27 irregular migrants in two lifeboats pushed back by Greek forces into Turkish territorial waters over the weekend. It cited an official who said that Greece violated international maritime law by pushing back small migrant boats and often using violent methods against them.
The report noted that the 27 irregular migrants caught in Greece's territorial waters had left Turkish territorial waters in rubber boats at night. Following the pushbacks, Turkish coast guard personnel took them to a safe location.
It said that all the irregular migrants were Palestinians. Most of them were under the age of 30, including 24 men and three women.
One of the rescued migrants said that Greek soldiers beat two of their friends and threw them into the sea.
An extensive search was carried out by the Turkish patrols in the region. Following the incident, the Turkish crew conducted an extensive search in the area and pulled out three more irregular migrants, one of whom is in critical condition.
The same night, Turkish teams saved 30 other migrants that Greek elements had turned away during regular patrols.
After their rescue, the irregular migrants were provided with water, food and blankets.
On Dec. 1, upon receiving information that there were irregular migrants on life rafts off the coast of the Datça district of Muğla province, Turkish Coast Guard Command teams were dispatched to the region. They plucked out 27 more irregular migrants floating on two life rafts and took them ashore.
The Turkish coast guard also confirmed on Monday that it rescued a total of 181 irregular migrants, many of whom were illegally pushed back into Turkish territorial waters by the Greek authorities.
In the first incident, teams were dispatched off the coast of Ayvacık in the northwestern Çanakkale province after the coast guard learned that there were irregular migrants in an inflatable boat. A total of 39 people from various countries who were pushed back by the Greek authorities were rescued, it said.
During the second incident in the same region, 54 migrants were saved. Over in the Aegean province of Muğla, 88 more who were pushed away by Greece were taken to safety.
Turkish coast guard teams were also deployed off the coast of Marmaris following reports of irregular migrants on life rafts and inflatable boats.
A total of 37 irregular migrants in two life rafts and 40 irregular migrants in inflatable boats were rescued by the teams, and two suspects believed to be migrant smugglers were arrested. Another 11 irregular migrants in an inflatable boat pushed back by Greece were saved off the coast of Datça.
All migrants were taken to provincial migration offices, the agency said. The rescues are the latest in a long string of operations that Türkiye has been conducting in its western waters. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16 of this year, the Turkish Coast Guard Command’s Aegean Command Station has saved 47,498 irregular migrants in 1,550 separate cases across its areas of responsibility.
A total of 21,770 irregular migrants, including women and children, have been rescued by Turkish coast guard teams after being left to die at sea on rubber boats or in lifejackets after Greek forces dismantled their engines or confiscated their belongings.
Human rights groups and media outlets have frequently reported on illegal pushbacks and other human rights breaches by Greek authorities. Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back irregular migrants, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants.
Hundreds of people have died at sea as many boats carrying refugees sank or capsized. A report by Türkiye’s Ombudsman Institution said in July earlier this year that Greece has pushed back nearly 42,000 asylum-seekers since 2020.
The International Organization for Migration has recorded nearly 2,000 migrants as dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea this year alone.
Despite in-depth investigations, scrutiny and evidence by the media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), alongside abundant testimony from victims, Greek authorities have consistently denied the pushbacks. Greece's conservative government, elected in 2019, has vowed to make the country "less attractive" to migrants.
