Weary of the civil war at home, a Yemeni family attempted to cross to Europe through Greece in hopes of finding a better life. However, things did not go as planned. One member of the family was thrown into the cold, merciless Mediterranean by Greek coast guard units and was lost at sea.
Three members of the family: Mahgdi Kalla and Fatima Mahmud, a couple, and their cousin, Mucahed Abduljavad, left Yemen in December 2021 and traveled to Turkey's Aegean province of Izmir using an illegal route.
On Jan. 30, they boarded a rubber boat carrying a group of Yemeni asylum-seekers and crossed to the Greek island of Chios. However, their happiness was short-lived.
The Greek coast guard caught them, put them on a boat and then threw three migrants into Turkish territorial waters.
Kalla, Abduljavad and another Yemeni named Mahad Adinare were thrown into the sea.
Swimming against the strong currents and freezing temperatures, Kalla and Adinare managed to make it to the island of Karaada off Muğla, Turkey. But Abduljavad went missing.
Turkish coast guard units carried out first aid on the survivors and have launched a search operation for Abduljavad.
Recounting his ordeal, Kalla said the Greek coast guard units took away their cell phones and money.
He said some of the asylum-seekers were separated from the group and put on a boat while some others, including himself, were taken to a police station in handcuffs.
"They put us on a small boat. There were also Greek soldiers with us. After 20 minutes of sailing, they removed our handcuffs. We had child-sized life jackets on us that we could not fit in. They threw us into the water. We had told the Greek soldiers we could not swim. They threw us into the sea and left," he said.
He said they struggled for a long time as the sea was rough and cold. I thought this was the end, he said.
"The life jacket was too small and could not keep us afloat. We swallowed way too much water; therefore, my cousin could not swim. We made it to the island and waited until morning," he said.
Turkish saviors
"Turkish Coast Guard teams rescued us the next day at 10 a.m. My cousin did not know how to swim at all and he was very scared. I can still hear his voice," he said.
"It definitely was inhumane treatment. How could one throw a human being into the water? I will not try to cross into Greece again. We attempted to flee our country because of bad conditions and wars. We escaped one death and faced another one, we found nothing new," he said.
Kalla said he was grateful to the Turkish officers who assisted them in their time of need.
"They rescued us from the island ... They gave us clothes and blankets. The Greek soldiers did not provide any food for us. The Turkish soldiers offered milk and food, they treated us well," he said.
Turkey and Greece have been key transit points for asylum-seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Turkey and human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum-seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had shared several photos of the sites where the migrants were found, with the victims' lifeless bodies blurred.
Commenting on the incident, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the European Union's border protection agency Frontex for cooperating with Greece and the bloc for turning a blind eye to the deaths of migrants. It is unacceptable to remain indifferent to such an incident, he said.
"Frontex is a useless EU organization that does nothing but provide assistance to Greece, which lets migrants die at sea, borders," Erdoğan told reporters in a news conference on Thursday before heading to Ukraine.
Greece, calling the incident a "tragedy," denied involvement, with Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi saying on Twitter that any suggestion that Greek forces had pushed the victims back would be "patently false."
Turkey called on the international community on Friday to investigate Greek pushbacks of irregular migrants after at least 19 froze to death at the border between the two countries.
"The EU keeps silent in the face of Greece's cruel practices against irregular migrants and turns a deaf ear to our calls," the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.
"We call on the international community to investigate Greece's actions in violation of human rights and not to remain indifferent to these despicable acts," the ministry added.
"Greece must immediately end its inhumane treatment both on its land borders and at sea," stressed the ministry, accusing Athens of disregarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The statement further added that Turkey believes the Greek people are ashamed of their government's practices and that their hearts ache for the migrants who are mistreated.