Pushback after arrival: 15 people pushed back and left adrift in life rafts after arrival on the island Kalymnos
Wed Aug 25 2021
Category: Pushback and Human Rights Violations
Number of people:
15 (7 women)
In the morning of the 25th of August, we are informed about a boat with 15 people that was pushed back from Greek to Turkish waters by Greek authorities. The people on the boat tell us they were put on a life raft by the Hellenic Coast Guard and want us to call the Turkish Coast Guard immediately. One person had been hit on the head and is in a critical situation.
At 09:18 CEST we call the Turkish Coast Guard and give them all the information.
At 14:41 CEST the Turkish Coast Guard confirmes they picked up 15 people in the position we gave them earlier.
On the 3rd of September we receive a testimony of one of the passengers:
I arrived on the island of Kalymnos and we had a pregnant woman with us. When the coast guard arrested us, he asked who knows English? I said "me". He told me that we will go to the police station and do the stamp there. I asked him to promise me and he did. He just told it like this and then asked everybody to hand out their mobiles, saying he will return it. I did not give him my mobile and kept it, because I knew he was lying. The same thing happened to me already a month ago, when the Greek coast guard picked me up near Rhodes. They took the mobiles and threw it into the sea - then they beat me and left me in the sea. But this time they held us about a quarter of an hour in their boat and then put the orange life rafts in the water and threw us in it like animals. I apologize for this expression, but this is the reality.