2 yıl önce

Greece engaged 'slave' refugees to push fellow asylum seekers into Türkiye

Greek police coerced several refugees to assault, rob and force new asylum seekers into unsafe rubber boats, an investigation by several European news agencies shows, revealing the extent of Athens' illegal pushback policy.

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Türkiye has rescued thousands of refugees and migrants pushed back into the sea by Greek authorities over the years.

Greek police have been forcing asylum seekers to repel their fellow refugees and migrants back across the border into Türkiye, risking their own asylum, or possible "disappearance" in the process, according to a joint investigation headed by a Dutch news organisation.

The months-long probe by Lighthouse Reports with contributions by Le Monde, Der Spiegel, ARD Report Munchen, and The Guardian gives vivid details about modern-day slavery by Greek authorities.

Refugees and asylum seekers — masked or wearing balaclavas and under the close supervision of armed officers — are used as operatives to force back other asylum seekers over the Meric (Evros) river, one of the main crossing points from Türkiye into Greece, the investigators found.

The six men involved — of Syrian and Moroccan origin — told investigators of stories of brutality, beatings, threats, and theft of belongings of asylum seekers by Greek police.

The men said they were forced to work for the Greek police in return for concessions. Two men also called themselves "slaves".

At the head of illegal Greek pushbacks is a Syrian man who goes by the name of "Mike" and who lives in a container on the base of a Greek police station, the investigators were told by one of the men.

Refugees forced to rob, strip asylum seekers

Not only are these "slaves" used at the banks of the Meric river to push back those attempting to cross, but asylum seekers who have already made it over are detained in centers there, according to the probe.

Those forced to do the police's work are driven by truck from the detention centres to shorelines, where they ferry refugees and migrants into the unsafe rubber boats while police look on, the investigators said.

The men forced into this "work" are given papers issued by the Greek police permitting them to stay in the country for 25 days.

They are, however, held against their will in three different police stations in the region, close enough to the Meric river to be able to carry out their daily duties.

One of the men, "Bassel," whose name has been changed for security reasons, told investigators that he spent three months in the servitude of "Mike," who worked directly with the Greek police.

Bassel said he was housed in barracks in the Greek municipality of Tychero, where he was brutally forced each day to assault, rob, and even strip asylum seekers of their personal effects.

He said the police would share a portion of the loot with him.

'Either push them back or go to prison'

The container where "Mike" and the six men make their home is located in the parking lot of the police station in Neo Cheimonio, in the Meric region, according to the investigation

The civil protection minister there, Takis Theodorikakos, told Le Monde earlier this month that there is increasing pressure with the daily flow of refugees and migrants.

"Every day, we prevent the illegal entry of 900 people," he has said.

Bassel told investigators of the choice given by his captors: either perform the assigned duties or face prison time under human smuggling charges.

In exchange for his work, Bassel said he was also promised a travel permit that would enable him to go beyond Greece and into Western Europe.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has consistently denied reports of any wrongdoing, claiming that his immigration policy is "firm but fair."

But Türkiye and international human rights groups have also repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable people, including women and children.