"What if I don't want to work [for you]," Saber B. asked. "Then we will beat you and send you back [to Turkey]," the Greek police officer replied. "And if we see you again, we will kill you."

This is how one migrant describes a scene he witnessed in Greece near the Turkish border, illustrating how migrants are apparently being coerced into conducting forcible returns to Turkey. In return, they were promised a police note permitting them a month's stay in Greece.

Saber B. is one of six Syrian and Moroccan migrants to whom European publications The Guardian, Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and ARD Report München spoke over the course of several months. The resulting joint investigation, published on Tuesday (June 28), is based on eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery and official Greek documents, and reveals how the officers were abusing the asylum seekers. 

Each of the six men reportedly said independently of each other that they were coerced into violent, illegal pushback operations run by Greek police. According to Der Spiegel, they are detained between operations at police stations along the Evros river, which makes up much of the Greek-Turkish border.

Moreover, the asylum seekers told the media outlets they were forcibly recruited or lured there by a Syrian man living in a container in the yard of a Greek police station, The Guardian reported. They claim they were then used as boatmen to ferry other migrants back to Turkey.

Witnessing assaults

Saber B., who described himself as a "slave," said he saw Greek police strip, rob and assault asylum seekers in front of his eyes. The officers then put the victims back into overcrowded inflatable boats that Saber B. and the other henchmen were then ordered to transport back across the deep and fast-running Evros river to the Turkish bank.

According to the media report, three Greek police officers confirmed the practice of using migrants to expel other migrants. Greek police reportedly resorted to migrants to protect their own officers as pushbacks are considered very dangerous.

The Greek interior ministry and Greek police reportedly left official inquiries by the media outlets unanswered.

The Greek border and coast guards have repeatedly been accused of trying to prevent crossings by land and sea by means of well-documented pushbacks, which aid organizations and UN agencies have been criticizing for years. The Greek government in Athens has so far rejected all allegations.

On Friday, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants presented a report in which he expressed concerns over pushbacks by Greek authorities. According to the report, at least 17,000 people were forcibly returned to Turkey this way during the 2020-2021 period.

Although countries are obliged to allow people seeking protection who reach their territory to claim asylum under European and international law, evidence suggests that Greece and other EU countries have consistently and systematically ignored this rule.

with epd, AFP