Friday

29th Mar 2024

Greek minister denies pushbacks despite evidence

Listen to article

Ebrahim Azard is a 26-year old asylum seeker from Gaza.

On Monday (27 June), he told EUobserver that he had been beaten by Greek commandos at the Evros land border with Turkey in April of last year.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Ebrahim Azard says the wounds on his back on a result of beatings by the Greek authorities (Photo: Ebrahim Azard)

"They stripped us, took us to a remote building two by two so that nobody could hear us scream," he said.

Azard said the commandos were with masked men who spoke Arabic and knew the routes taken by migrants.

He said they were then forced back to Turkey in a move described as a pushback, which is illegal under EU and international law.

Azard tried again a second time, this time on a boat from Bodrum, a coastal city in Turkey, to the Greek island of Kos. A friend of his was drenched in fuel during the crossing and fell ill.

When they landed on Kos, they were beaten and almost all were put on a small boat and dragged out to Turkish waters.

His friend, Mohamed Nasser, who had fuel burns, later died in a hospital, he said. Azard made a third attempt and finally arrived, this time on the island of Rhodes.

EUobserver could not independently verify Azard's testimony, but images of the alleged beatings showed bruising on his back and his arm.

The testimony also runs consistent with numerous other cases of pushbacks reported in Greece.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has recorded almost 540 reported incidents of "informal returns by Greece since the beginning of 2020."

Thirteen are now being investigated by the Greek authorities, including a case where a Frontex interpreter was himself pushed back into Turkey from Greece in September of last year.

The Frontex interpreter, who is a legal resident of the European Union, had also been assaulted, reported the New York Times.

The Greek Ombudsman, a watchdog, is probing over 50 push back incidents involving some 10,000 people.

And the EU human rights court in Strasbourg has issued injunctions or so-called interim measures on 13 different pushback cases, some involving children.

No problems

But Notis Mitarachi, the Greek minister of migration and asylum, has long denied any wrongdoing amid claims that the reported incidents are part of a Turkish propaganda machine.

It was a position he maintained once again on Monday when he told European lawmakers in the civil liberties committee that Greece fully respects fundamental rights and the right to life.

When pressed on the case of the Frontex interpreter, Mitarachi described it "as very peculiar."

"It is being investigated by independent authorities," he said.

"I would expect a response on this case, hopefully extremely soon," he added.

He said Greece had rescued 5,000 people this year, including almost 200 in the past month.

He said the term pushbacks can mean different things and cited EU regulation 656/2014 that allows for interceptions at sea.

But not everyone is convinced.

Last year, Nora Markard, a law professor at the University of Münster in Germany, said people intercepted at sea must first still have their asylum claims heard.

Mitarachi then cited European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, noting that summary collective expulsions are allowed under certain circumstances.

He referenced a Strasbourg case involving Spain and its northern enclaves in Morocco.

But a legal note by the European Commission said this doesn't mean it can be applied in all situations and in all cases.

"Our border protection policy is in no way preventing access to the asylum procedure," he said.

Turkey, he said, was also failing to implement a 2016 agreement with the EU to take back migrants landing on Greek shores.

He said over 200,000 people have arrived from Turkey since the agreement and that Greece had offered international protection to over 80,000 people since 2019.

But Greek left MEP Konstantinos Arvanitis, present at the hearing, later described Mitarachi's statements as lies.

"As always, the real questions went unanswered, the real issues unaddressed," he said.

Analysis

Lack of legal clarity on EU 'pushbacks' of migrants at sea

Frontex is invoking EU interception rules, plus a European Court of Human Rights case against Spain, as precedents to allow authorities to turn back migrants in boats in the Aegean Sea. But legal analysis by the EU Commission says otherwise.

Greece defends disputed media and migration track record

UN human rights council says push backs in Greece have become de facto general policy. Reporters without Borders says press freedoms in Greece are among the worst in Europe. Greece's PM refutes both to MEPs in Strasbourg.

EU relying on 'ineffective' Greek body to probe pushback video

The European Commission says it cannot act on latest revelations by the New York Times of illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers until authorities in Greece first conduct a national investigation. Critics say those same authorities are politically compromised and ineffective.

Investigation

How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Psychotropic drug abuse is one of the many dangers migrants face along the Balkan route. In overcrowded camps, doctors prescribe tranquilisers to calm people down. And black market circuits and pharmacies selling drugs without prescription contribute to the issue.

Analysis

Election in sight, EU mood music changes on offshoring asylum

Designating a country like Rwanda as 'safe' under EU rules to send an asylum-seeker there requires strict conditions to be met first. But a backdoor clause introduced into EU legislation allows a future commission to strip out those requirements.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us