In two cases over the weekend and on Monday, Turkish authorities came to the rescue of irregular migrants left for dead by Greece.
On Monday, the Turkish coast guard discovered 24 irregular migrants, including 13 children, stranded in a rough patch of the Aegean Sea between Türkiye and Greece aboard a dinghy. Migrants were trying to reach the Greek island of Lesvos from the western Turkish coastal town of Ayvacık. Media reports said they were pushed back by Greek patrols to the Turkish side, a controversial practice that often drew criticism from human rights organizations.
On Saturday, coast guard crews saved 21 irregular migrants off the coast of Foça, a town in the western province of Izmir, after their rubber boat was pushed to the Turkish waters by Greece.
Many boatloads of migrants attempt to make the dangerous sea crossing to reach the Greek islands from the Turkish coast, hoping to make their way to prosperous European Union countries eventually.
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 EU, 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 on Oct. 31, citing 50 testimonies over the past two years from migrants.
Athens has strongly denied such 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 EU, from mass illegal immigration. It has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex.
The Turkish Coast Guard Command rescued 25,889 irregular migrants pushed back Greece in the Aegean Sea in 2023 alone, according to data from the agency.
It said the highest number of pushbacks – some 11,715 migrants – occurred off the coast of western Izmir province, which has a meandering coast stretching over 460 kilometers (286 miles) and close to the Greek islands. Izmir was followed by other western provinces, Muğla, Çanakkale, Aydın and Balıkesir.
Türkiye itself copes with the irregular migration phenomenon as crises across the world once again put it at the forefront of migrant influx as a gateway to Europe.
The country, which already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world, is taking new measures at its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants, balancing a humanitarian policy and the need to stop thousands from risking their lives.
