Min. of Citizen Protection: How the Turkish gendarmerie is ‘pushing’ migrants towards Greece

The Turkish gendarmerie organizes the promotion of irregular migrants to Greece, while it sent all 38 rescued yesterday to the islet of Evros, giving them advice to contact NGOs and humanitarian organizations and assurances that Greece will rescue them, as they claimed during the preliminary investigation carried out by the Greek Police.

This is reported by circles of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, who describe in detail how the case developed from the time the migrants were moved from the islet of Evros, until the moment they were located and rescued on Greek soil.

According to the same circles, increased pressure has been observed at the border in recent days, while they provide information on the treatment by Turkish authorities of the group of immigrants, which have become an international issue in recent days, as is always evident from the descriptions and narratives of the same.

Specifically, regarding the process of rescuing the 38, the ministry states in detail the following:

* Yesterday 15.08.2022 and around 2:00 p.m., posts were made by various people on social media that the group of irregular migrants who were said to be trapped for a week on an islet of the Evros which is outside the Greek territory, reached the banks of the river from side of the Greek territory. This can also be seen in a photo posted on social media on the subject. From the post it appears that the individuals had moved from an area outside the Greek border and “are now in 100% Greek territory. They crossed the river and are on the banks of the Greek side”.

* Furthermore, from the metadata traces of their mobile phones, as it emerged from the specific posts, it seemed that they were on the Greek shores and heading north. Immediately, the Hellenic Police, the Greek army and the other competent agencies were mobilized to look for them at the scene.

* However, the group of 38 informal migrants was at a distance of about 4 kilometers to the south, near the village of Lavara. They were spotted by a drone at 17.15, together with the boat they used for their movement, which we do not know how it was found in their possession.

* At the point where they were located, the vegetation is particularly dense and for this reason a ground search operation was organized. At 18.30 the persons were located by police officers of the Didymoteicho Border Guard Department

From the same circles of the ministry it is emphasized that none of the 38 identified were in danger of life and they were all removed from the scene with the help of the police. An ambulance station was called at the same time and a pregnant woman was taken as a precaution in order to be transferred to Didymoteicho General Hospital. Police searched for a child who was allegedly stung by a scorpion, according to posts made on social media by various people. None of the children identified required hospitalization or first aid, nor did any of them have symptoms of fever, and they were all taken, together with their parents, to a temporary shelter.

What the migrants say about their adventure

According to the sources of the ministry, the irregular immigrants themselves, during the preliminary investigation, claimed that they were part of a larger group and were arrested by the Turkish authorities and, refusing to return to Syria, were transferred to a detention center in Edirne, where according to the allegations there are hundreds of other immigrants. They also claim that 2 weeks ago, the military gendarmerie of Turkey transported them in small vans to the Turkish bank of the Evros River. There were some Arabic-speaking women – probably smugglers – who put them in inflatable boats and took them to an island in the river. It follows from their claims that the process of moving to Greece is organized and carried out by the Turkish gendarmerie. In fact, as they said, they received advice to contact NGOs and humanitarian organizations and received assurances that Greece would save them.