Turkish units rescue migrants pushed back by Greece

ANKARA

The Defense Ministry has announced that the Turkish Coast Guard rescued a group of irregular migrants after they were pushed back into Turkish territorial waters by Greece in the Aegean Sea.

The social media post of the ministry on July 22 included footage captured during the surveillance flight of the Turkish UAV. In the video, Greek Coast Guard is seen pushing a boat of irregular migrants into Turkish territorial waters from the northern region of Lesbos Island before leaving them in the area.

On the same day, local media reported that more than 40 migrants, including 13 children, were pushed back into Turkish territorial waters off the coast of Datça district in the western province of Muğla. The migrants were rescued by Turkish security forces.

Greece has long been accused of ejecting migrants from its territorial waters and abandoning them to a perilous fate, an allegation consistently refuted by Athens.

Last month, dozens of European Parliament lawmakers called on the European Commission to conduct an independent investigation into a BBC report that accused the Greek Coast Guard of causing the deaths of migrants with illegal pushbacks.

The BBC report alleged that the deaths of 43 migrants in 15 incidents between May 2020 and May 2023 were the direct result of the actions of the Greek Coast Guard in the Aegean Sea.