Published : 16-11-2019
Greece reportedly deported about 60,000 migrants to Turkey between 2017 and 2018, according to a report on the online news portal of weekly German magazine Spiegel, published on Wednesday evening.
According to Spiegel, Turkey is accusing Greece of not properly dealing with the asylum status of migrants. Instead, Turkish Interior Ministry files claim that Greece illegally transported 58,283 people to Turkey in the 12 month period leading up to November 1, 2018.
Greece is disputing the accusations, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsokasis saying Ankara was playing games: "Those people who have used the refugee crisis to their own ends should be more careful when dealing with Greece."
"Push back" of asylum seekers is considered illegitimate under European and international law. Governments are required to seriously assess the asylum status of new migrants rather than forcing them back to another country.
According to the Turkish documents, the largest proportion of migrants sent away from Greece were Pakistani, with large numbers from Somalia, Algeria and Bangladesh. 4,500 were from Syria.
Turkish officials said they sent most of the people back to their countries of origin except for those from war-torn Syria, who were sent back to the Turkish town where they originally registered as refugees.
Last year, AGPS released a shocking report about a group of migrants who were discovered by villagers in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province in a run-down and naked state, after they were reportedly beaten up and stripped of their clothes and belongings by Greek police.
The migrants, including Yemeni and Palestinian refugees, were found while walking in open fields by locals of Kiremitçi Salih village in Uzunköprü district on the eastern bank of the Maritsa River forming the border between Turkey and Greece.
Live snapshots showed all migrants with visible signs of battery on their backs and all over their bodies.
The incident was the latest string of events involving police violence against migrants fleeing war-torn zones. Similar incidents have also taken place on the Aegean, where coast guards have been accused of deflating migrant boats and re-routing them back to Turkish territorial waters.
Based on the accounts of the illegally deported migrants, Greek police officers are also accused of confiscating migrants' valuable possessions and torturing them, before pushing them back on the border, in violation of international law.
Greece reportedly deported about 60,000 migrants to Turkey between 2017 and 2018, according to a report on the online news portal of weekly German magazine Spiegel, published on Wednesday evening.
According to Spiegel, Turkey is accusing Greece of not properly dealing with the asylum status of migrants. Instead, Turkish Interior Ministry files claim that Greece illegally transported 58,283 people to Turkey in the 12 month period leading up to November 1, 2018.
Greece is disputing the accusations, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsokasis saying Ankara was playing games: "Those people who have used the refugee crisis to their own ends should be more careful when dealing with Greece."
"Push back" of asylum seekers is considered illegitimate under European and international law. Governments are required to seriously assess the asylum status of new migrants rather than forcing them back to another country.
According to the Turkish documents, the largest proportion of migrants sent away from Greece were Pakistani, with large numbers from Somalia, Algeria and Bangladesh. 4,500 were from Syria.
Turkish officials said they sent most of the people back to their countries of origin except for those from war-torn Syria, who were sent back to the Turkish town where they originally registered as refugees.
Last year, AGPS released a shocking report about a group of migrants who were discovered by villagers in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province in a run-down and naked state, after they were reportedly beaten up and stripped of their clothes and belongings by Greek police.
The migrants, including Yemeni and Palestinian refugees, were found while walking in open fields by locals of Kiremitçi Salih village in Uzunköprü district on the eastern bank of the Maritsa River forming the border between Turkey and Greece.
Live snapshots showed all migrants with visible signs of battery on their backs and all over their bodies.
The incident was the latest string of events involving police violence against migrants fleeing war-torn zones. Similar incidents have also taken place on the Aegean, where coast guards have been accused of deflating migrant boats and re-routing them back to Turkish territorial waters.
Based on the accounts of the illegally deported migrants, Greek police officers are also accused of confiscating migrants' valuable possessions and torturing them, before pushing them back on the border, in violation of international law.
