GUARDIAN
Katy Fallon, Klaas van Dijken, Bashar Deeb, Jack Sapoch and Mohannad Al-Najjar
Six forcibly recruited men speak out about brutal illegal pushbacks involving threats, beating and looting
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| Migrants by an inflatable boat on the Evros river in Turkey, waiting to cross over to Greece. Local people in border villages talk of asylum seekers who ‘work’ for police. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP |
In a militarised border zone, in the dead of night,
asylum seekers say they have been coerced into violent, illegal pushback
operations run by Greek police.
Kept locked up between operations, the asylum seekers
claim they were forcibly recruited or lured there by a Syrian man living in a
container in the yard of a Greek police station, and then used as boatmen to
ferry other migrants back to Turkey.
Six migrants, Syrian and Moroccan, have told how they
participated in pushback operations on the Evros river under duress, in return
for a police note permitting them a month’s stay in Greece. Two
of the men described themselves as “slaves”. They said they witnessed Greek
police strip, rob and assault asylum seekers before they were put back into
overcrowded inflatable boats that the men were then ordered to transport back
across the deep and fast-running river to the Turkish bank.
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| One of the migrants, who confirmed their role in pushing migrants back over the border. Photograph: Lighthouse Report/Handout |
A joint investigation by the Guardian, Lighthouse Reports, Le
Monde, Der Spiegel and ARD Report München has obtained visual evidence to
corroborate the men’s testimony, and documents confirming their detention and
later release by Greek authorities. The men were among those who responded to
the Facebook group Consolidated Rescue group, which
had asked people to speak out on the practice.
Reports of pushbacks have
multiplied since March 2020 when thousands of people, many herded there by
Turkish authorities, arrived at Greek borders after Turkish president Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan announced he had opened “the gate” into Europe. Greek
authorities and its prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have constantly rejected
allegations, insisting that Greece
has a “firm but fair” migration policy.
But local people in border villages talked openly of
the asylum seekers, usually masked, who “work” for police, and two senior Greek
officers confirmed the practice of using third-country nationals as proxies in
pushbacks.
The men themselves alleged systematic coercion.
Bassel*, a Syrian, said he spent three months in a police cell at Tychero, near
the Greece-Turkey border, pushing others back.
Bassel had crossed the Evros into Greece, hoping to
claim asylum. His group was met by Greek police who he says beat them with
batons and drove them to Tychero police station. There they were ordered to
strip and crammed into overcrowded cells.
After being identified as an English speaker, Bassel
said he was pulled out and offered a deal: he would work for the police or be
charged with human smuggling and go to prison. In return for a permit to remain
in Greece for one month, he would remain locked up during the day and released
at night to push back other asylum seekers.
Bassel* said he was told the “work” would be unpaid but he could take his pick of the migrants’ belongings. Two others told the same story of recruitment and of the beatings that ensued if anything went wrong during an operation.
“This work is very dangerous, also because of the
enmity between the Greeks and the Turks,” Bassel said. Police sources speaking
to the investigation confirmed that it is to avoid confrontations with Turkish
security forces that proxies like Bassel are used.
Three Syrians held at another police station, Neo
Cheimonio, told a similar story. All had paid up to €5,000 (£4,300) to an
Istanbul middleman to cross into Greece via a smuggler, who said there would be
a Syrian waiting for them with Greek police. They were horrified to realise
they were expected to row migrant boats back to Turkey in exchange for their
own crossing.
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| A still picture taken from a video of ‘Mike’, a Syrian migrant said to help police at Neo Cheimonio. Photograph: Handout |
One of them, Farhad, said they were regularly
threatened by a Syrian calling himself “Mike”, who worked at Neo Cheimonio,
assisting police in illegal pushbacks and recruiting and coordinating asylum
seekers.
Farhad said he initially refused to participate but
was told by “Mike” he risked not just losing his money but “vanishing” if he
returned to Istanbul.
“Mike”, who lived in the police station grounds, would
search apprehended asylum seekers on the river bank before they were sent back.
He was particularly keen on gold jewellery, and became violent if people did
not hand over valuables.
Well-built and with a tattoo of a Spartan helmet,
“Mike”, was identified by the men as well as by a local shopowner, who had seen
him with police. The investigation has also seen photographs of him at the
station. “Mike” is said to work with his brother, a convicted killer wanted for
kidnapping and on multiple smuggling charges.
Bassel was released and has now left Greece, but is
traumatised by his time kept in a cell and brought out, masked, to row groups
of desperate, often half-naked asylum seekers back to Turkey.
“I call this stage the stage of slavery,” he said.
The Guardian contacted Tychero and Neo Cheimonio police stations, the minister for citizen protection and the president of the border guards of Evros multiple times but had no response by the time of publication.
*Names have been changed to protect identities
28/6/2022
