I. Introduction
In 2018, Mobile Info Team (MIT), a grassroots organization in Northern Greece providing providing information and individual assistance on topics surrounding the asylum procedures, started collecting testimonies from individuals who were pushed back from Greece into Turkey. Pushback is the term used to describe the practice used by authorities to prevent people from seeking protection on their territory by forcibly returning them to another country. This practice is in direct violation of international and national laws. For this reason, MIT began to document and record the testimonies of clients who were forcibly returned to Turkey. It was from these cases that MIT first began to see the extent of the problem and the associated rights violations occurring in the Evros region. Instead of being given the right to claim asylum, respondents were often robbed, beaten and forcibly pushed back across the border.
As an organization providing information and assistance during the asylum procedures, it is our duty to provide clients with information about their rights in Greece and to advocate on their behalf when those rights are being violated. Because of that, MIT seeks to raise the voices of the communities we work with and to add evidence to previous reports concerning this issue. Through the release of this report, MIT seeks to shed further light on the situation at the Evros border and to redraw attention to the human rights violations occurring there.
II. Pushback testimonies
The most important finding from these testimonies is the understanding that pushbacks at the border have been consistently occurring since MIT began collecting reports in August 2018 and that many of them follow a general pattern, demonstrating the high probability that migrants are being expelled from the country in a systematic and coordinated fashion.
The involvement of Greek authorities and their use of violence is of vital concern. In almost every testimony MIT collected, respondents reported encountering the Greek police at some point. Their actions ranged from complicit handovers to ‘commando’ groups to perpetrating acts of violence and theft themselves. From the testimonies it seems to be clear that at least some faction of the Greek police in this region are a part of a systematic approach to round up, detain and hand over asylum seekers to groups who will eventually push them back across the border. Instead of guiding asylum seekers through the formal asylum procedure, authorities are violating international and national law by engaging in the systematic practice of collectively expelling migrants across the border.
In general, respondents experienced pushbacks in 4 similar stages.
Arrest and Capture by Greek police inside Greek territory
Detention and confiscation of personal property
Coordinated Handoffs and Transfers
Collective Expulsion across the Evros River
These stages are laid out in further detail below with correlating excerpts from respondents’ full testimonies to demonstrate the similarity and patterns present throughout their experiences.
1.) Arrest and Capture
For asylum seekers, meeting with the Greek police should provide a critical opportunity to express their intent to request asylum and to access the asylum procedure. Under normal, legal interactions, the Greek police would meet asylum seekers on Greek land, escort them to police stations or to a first reception center, take their personal data and register their requests for asylum. However, in general, this legal process is ignored. The excerpts from the testimonies below demonstrate what happens when respondents first meet the police, how their arrest unfolds and how ultimately their encounters with the police begin their pushback experience.
“When we entered, the police were already waiting for us. We entered Greece by land and walked for about 7 kilometers. There were 15 of us - including men, women and children. When we arrived at a tunnel under the main street, 8 of us decided to go inside while the others waited for a car. When we entered, the police were waiting for us. They arrested us and grabbed one of the guys. They beat him with electric batons and ripped apart his belongings. We were like family to him, so we were all very afraid after that - thinking to ourselves - what will they do with us?”
- H.Q.
“They came from the woods like ghosts. That first time, we travelled together as two families [including multiple children]. All of us are from Syria. At 4 pm we left Istanbul towards to the border village of Edirne. It was so cold, that we had to wait in Edirne for three days because the weather conditions did not allow us to cross the river. At a certain point, we had the chance to cross. Once we arrived at the other side of the river, we were caught by police - dressed in military uniforms. It was dark, sometime after midnight. We were surrounded by woods and there was a big hill in front of us. They came from the woods like ghosts. We took a deep breath. Then, they started trying to scare us and terrifying the children.”
-I.H.
2.) Detention, Theft and Deprivation of Liberty
After being caught by police many asylum seekers reported being detained for hours on end without access to food or water, without being told their reason for detention, and without the right to request asylum. While in detention centers and police stations, respondents were usually told to remain silent, they were asked to strip in front of each other, and their personal items were taken.
S.S., had been captured along with his wife, young son and two other families after walking for 5 hours past the Evros river.
““My wife asked them for milk, but they said no.”
Then the Greek police showed up. We asked them not to send us back to Turkey. He [the police man] said that they would not, so we got into the car with him. We were with just three families and all of us fit in. He drove us for about half an hour until we arrived at a place close to the river. They took us to a place next to a military site, something like two camps. It was around 1 pm in the afternoon. There, they put us all together in one small room, women and children as well. They checked us and took our stuff before we entered the room. It was a like small detention center inside a military place. In that room there was nothing. My son was crying a lot. My wife asked them for milk, but they said no. Every half an hour the police were bringing in more people that were not part of our group. Eventually, we were with around 60 or 70 people inside the detention center - from all around the world: Afghani and Pakistani, Syrian etc. The room itself was really stinky, and my son was crying all the time. There was trash next to the door. The child cried and cried, and my wife cried too. ”
H.O. told us of a similar experience where she asked for water to make milk for her son with the packets she brought.
““When we requested water, I swear to God they said, ‘drink the toilet water.’”
Then, they took us to their headquarters on the border, searched us and threw us in prison. After that they checked us and all of our bags. They took our phones. And when we asked for food and water, they did not give us any. They were very harsh with us. We asked for milk for my son (he was 8 months old at the time), but they did not accept this. When we requested water, I swear to God they said, ‘drink the toilet water’, so we were forced to prepare dirty water. Then I started crying. I cried and said, ‘we come from a country in war. We come to ask for international protection and then this is what we get.’ I asked them, ‘who is the responsible here?’ They told me that the captain is not here. He would arrive in the evening and then they would decide what to do with you. ”
3.) Coordinated Handoffs and Transfers
In many of the testimonies MIT collected, asylum seekers discussed being apprehended by the police, taken to a detention center, and transferred during the night to ‘commando’ groups or to men wearing black masks. While it is still too difficult to determine the full extent of police involvement in pushbacks, they are at least complicit in the handover of asylum seekers to these commando groups, and perhaps may even be active participants in the pushbacks themselves. For this reason, this chapter focuses on what is clear throughout the testimonies, the involvement of the Greek police and their coordinated efforts to handover asylum seekers to these illegal and often more violent groups.
A.J. and his wife were apprehended 30 minutes after crossing the river.
““We arrived at the river where the normal police delivered us to the commandos.”
They (the police) beat us, they took our stuff. Our bags, phones, we had three I-pads, and they took us to the jail - to the prison. Because the prison was full, they took us to the border. When we arrived at the river, the normal police delivered us to the commandos. They wore masks covering their faces. We asked them to give us our stuff back. They were holding sticks in their hands. They hit us and said, ‘don’t talk about your stuff’. And they put us in boats, small boats. And told us to cross us to the Turkish territory across the river. They even took water from us. So, we had to drink from the river, because we were so thirsty. ”
Clearly, the level of coordination seems to be relatively high between the Greek police and these other groups. Respondent R.A. told us he even heard the police calling the commandos on the phone during their drive to the border. When they arrived at the river, the commandos were waiting for them, weapons in hand.
““The police had called them and told them to wait at the river. When we arrived there, there stood these men, and the boat they had already prepared.”
The commandos, the people who brought us from the van to the river and put us in the boats, were wearing masks. They were strongly built and heavily muscled. They were wearing military dark-green uniforms, you could not see their hair. Everything was covered except for their eyes. All had masks, black masks. The police had called them and told them to wait at the river. When we arrived there, there stood these men, and the boat they had already prepared. There was a big car standing next to them. There were five of them who were with weapons, guns, pointing to the people. And there were three of them who were checking if the refugees had anything with them. They were communicating with each other just with signs. I could not hear any words from them. They communicated also to us with signs. We were not allowed to talk. Not with them, and not among each other.”
4.) Collective Expulsion Across the Border
The collective expulsion of asylum seekers across the Evros river is the final part of a pushback experience. Generally, after being handed off to the group waiting at the river, asylum seekers are put into little boats and sent across to the Turkish side of the river. These acts usually happen at night when it is difficult to see the perpetrators’ faces.
S.O. was taken to a two different detention centers by Greek police. At the second detention center, men dressed in camouflage and wearing masks came inside. They rounded everyone up and took them to the border, it was there they were pushed back across the river.
““I swear to god. It was really like a movie. It was terrible.”
In the second detention center near the border where the guys dressed in camouflage had driven us, three men came with masks came into the detention center. They came with a big car and asked us to all get in. And then, they drove us with the commandos driving behind us in the small car. We were driving around in circles, and after the sun went down, we stopped somewhere. At the river they asked us to go out of the car. They were pressuring us, pushing us, treating us badly. There was a pregnant woman, and they were pushing here – because she was shouting at them. Her husband came to stop them, but the men with the masks hit him with the sticks. They were pushing us saying “go, go Malaka!” They treated us like we were sheep. They pushed us into the mud, we were trying to lift the kids out. I swear to god. It was really like a movie. It was terrible. We didn’t know anything it was in the middle night. We did not know what to do, where to go, just screaming for help. ”
S.S. had a similar experience with the masked men at the river. His things were taken by them, he was hit, and eventually he was returned to Turkey with nearly nothing.
““We went to the Turkish land even without our shoes.”
I could not see their faces, only the eyes. They were covered with black masks. They were talking with us in hand signs, point at us to scare us, and they forced us to look down and to not look up. They checked each of us and took besides our phones also the bags, the clothes inside the bags, and even our shoes from us. Eventually they would give us back our documents, the passports and money – but that’s all. They dropped our other stuff, phones and bags, in the river. My son was crying. And they took my son from me. I took my son back, and then they hit me. Two of them; one caught me from behind and the other started to hit me. They tried to make me silent. I begged those militaries, to at least give us some clothes for my son. Because the clothes from my son were completely wet. Then they pushed us back over the river. We went to the Turkish land without even our shoes. ”
5.) Risks Related to Pushbacks and Chain Refoulement
When asylum seekers are pushed back into Turkey, many face the threat of being captured, detained and eventually pushed all the way back to their countries of origin. It is important to note that many of the regions in these countries are active warzones or areas where asylum seekers face the renewed threat of persecution, torture and even death at the hands of the State or terrorist groups. This risk of being continuously pushed back from country to country is called chain refoulement and is of growing concern to Mobile Info Team. While the acts of Greek authorities are illegal, the pushback of individuals to Turkey carries the extra weight of potentially sentencing an asylum seeker to a life of deprivation or even death.
““My brother in law was less fortunate. The second time we got separated from my brother-in-law and he was pushed all the way back to Syria.”
Once we got back to Turkey (after being pushed back), we were caught by Turkish militaries and detained in a camp. Everyone was being transferred to Urfa, a closed camp at the border with Turkey and Syria. We could not say that we are from Syria as the invasion in Afrin had just started. In this camp, they separated women and families from the young, single guys. My brother in law was less fortunate. The second time we got separated from my brother-in-law and he was pushed all the way back to Syria. My brother in-law did not have a wife or family, so after two days he was pushed back to Idlib - the place where hate against Kurdish people is the strongest. When he arrived to Idlib, he didn’t have a phone. For three days he stayed in a prison in Idlib, and they – the Islamic forces – made the investigation with him - he was tortured by the militias who hold him in the prison. ”
A.N. described what happened to him, after being pushed back by the Greek police to Turkey.
““I can’t seek asylum in Turkey.”
70 kilometers before Edirne [Turkeish city close to the Greek border], the traffic police stopped the bus for a checkpoint, and they asked us if we had a Kimlik [informal word for temporary residence permit in Turkey for Syrians]. Then, they called border guards, who took us to Hatay [police station near the Syrian border]. Here, they pushed us back to Syria through the border crossing Bab Al-Hawa and forced us to sign the voluntary return. They sent me back to Idlib and there the Al Nusra Front got me. I was under interrogation for four days. In Syria, I threw kid’s parties. This was my job. I also worked with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. When they realized this, they let me go. The second try [to smuggle back to Turkey], thank God, I made it here to Istanbul. I must keep going. I can’t seek asylum in Turkey. They took away my right to have a Kimlik. If I get caught again, I will be sent back to Idlib.”
III. REPORTING PUSHBACKS & UNDERSTANDING REFUGEE RIGHTS
If you or someone you know has been pushed back and would like to share their story for advocacy purposes, please do not hesitate to contact MIT at advocacy@mobileinfoteam.org or on WhatsApp at +30 694 431 2793. Your information will remain confidential and we will never disclose your personal data unless you instruct us to do so. Documenting your story helps us and other NGOs in the region challenge illegal acts and call for change.
Formal complaints and legal action can be pursued with the organizations listed below. Mobile Info Team can assist you in contacting these representatives. Sharing your experience with them may help others who come after you to avoid suffering the same experiences.
GCR - for legal assistance
UNHCR - for general assistance
Greek Ombudsman - to lodge complaints
Frontex - the European Border and Coast Guard Agency o If you believe Frontex was involved in pushbacks you can report the actions of their officers in your own language here.
If you would like MIT assistance filling out the form please contact us here.
Lawyers at the organization SolidarityNow in Greece advise migrants crossing the border and encountering the Greek police to learn their rights beforehand and to express these sentiments:
Ask for asylum and ask that this request is registered*
Ask for legal assistance
Ask for an interpreter
If an asylum seeker is detained, they also have a right to know what they’re being charged with and what the process is to contest that charge — although this right is often not respected in practice.
*It is also important to note that while legally every individual has the right to ask for asylum once landing in Greece, these requests may be met with violence by the authorities.