An innovative yet callous measure used by the Greek police to keep asylum seekers at bay was revealed in the Guardian article – ‘Revealed: Greek police coerce asylum seekers into pushing fellow migrants back to Turkey’ – written and published by Katy Fallon, Klaas van Dijken, Bashar Deeb, Jack Sapoch, and Mohannad Al-Najjar (Fallon et al.). This article talks about the Greece-Turkey border and how Greece uses asylum seekers to pushback other asylum seekers. This has strong implications for migrants as they often cross borders to live a better life, but in reality, they end up facing harsh brutalities during the process. The article focuses on Greek police using Syrian as well as Moroccan migrants to push newly arriving asylum seekers back to Turkey. This article is of significance to other asylum seekers and migrants as such acts have been occurring for over two years, but it was not until recently that they were shown in the limelight.
Historically,Greece-Turkey relations have been strained since the time of the Ottoman Empire. To summarise, Greece won its War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821,and that was only the beginning of the straining relationship between Greece and Tukey as since then, both countries have fought numerous conflicts and crises against one another (Cross, 2021).[1] In effect, Greece is not a desirable place for people of Turkish origin to seek asylum. However, that does not stop asylum seekers in Turkey from crossing the border into Greece, as they are unaware of the circumstances they will face upon arriving.
The Greece-Turkey border was also a significant entry point into the European Union (EU) during the 2015 Syrian Crisis. Syrians can enter Turkey without a visa and from there, they can travel to Greece or Bulgaria, which serves as their entry point into the EU and can thus claim asylum there (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). However, during the early years of the Syrian Civil War, Greece significantly increasedits guards on the Greece-Turkey border to keep Syrians out (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). In addition, the Syrian entry point to Turkey has been “kept closed since March 2015,” and Turkey even “completed a border wall in 2018” (Adar et al., 2020, 2). This reflects how Turkey has a large population of Syrian refugees as they had to place border controls to stop Syrians from entering the country.
However, in early 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the country would be opening its border to Europe and since then the number of pushback reports from Greece to Turkey has significantly increased (Adar et al., 2020; Fallon et al., 2022). Fallon et al. detail the experiences of migrants in these pushback operations. The article highlights how these migrants did not want to be involved in these operations but were instead forced into those roles like “slaves” (Fallon et al., 2022). Upon arriving at the Greek-Turkey border, specifically the Evros River, asylum seekers were met with Greek policewho were ready to “strip, rob and assault” them before either sending them back across the “river to the Turkish bank” or cramming them into cells at the local police station (Fallon et al., 2022).
The police would then identify if any of the asylum seekers spoke English and approach them with a deal to “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, [they] would remain locked up during the day and released at night to push back other asylum seekers” (Fallon et al., 2022). This reflects how the asylum seekers were blackmailedinto working against other asylum seekers like slaves since this was the only way that they could stay in the country. In effect, Greek officials outsourced and weaponised their asylum seekers against other asylum seekers.
This article used real-life experiences to place this issue at the forefront, rendering it an accentuated emotional quality which can strike a chord among the readers by showing how fascinating yet disturbing their experiences are. Interestingly, the article included photos of these migrants pushing other asylum seekers back to create some sort of fear and intimidation about them, which shows how the media is quite biased and often used to create fear amongst others. Further research into this issue led to more local articles repeating what Fallon et al. stated in their piece. This makes one wonder why such experiences are often only reported on a local scale rather than on an international scale. The article was published by the Guardian, so only regular followers would have read it when it first came out, robbing the issue of the attention it deserves.
It is so unfair that such experiences are very much unheard of. If more people knew about it, then more action could be taken globally to counter it, which shall help improve the lives of asylum seekers. It is saddening to know that asylum seekers have left their homes and environments under brutal circumstances to find safer places where they will receive adequate care, but instead, they face more harsh realities at the borders. As such, we are all aware that borders are often regulated through violence, but why are the experiences of asylum seekers at these borders often unheard and neglected? Also, why is nothing done to improve their lives? These questions continue to evoke the conscience of the global civil society and the promises of human rights for all.
[1]See Cross 2021 for a more detailed overview of Greece-Turkey relations
References
Adar, S., Angenendt, S., Asseburg, M., Bossong, R., & Kipp, D. (2020). The refugee drama in Syria, Turkey, and Greece: why a comprehensive approach is needed. SWP Comment, 16/2020, pp. 1-8. . https://doi.org/10.18449/2020C16
Cross, J. (2021). “Greco-Turkish Relations: Two Centuries of Constant Competition”. Last accessed 14 May 2022, from https://www.strifeblog.org/2021/08/30/greco-turkish-relations-two-centuries-of-constant-competition/
Fallon, K., Dijken, K. van, Deeb, B., Sapoch, J., & Al-Najjar, M. (2022). “Revealed: Greek police coerce asylum seekers into pushing fellow migrants back to Turkey”. Last accessed 14 May 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/28/greek-police-coerce-asylum-seekers-pushbacks-migrants-turkey
Fargues, P., & Fandrich, C. (2012). The European response to the Syrian refugee crisis: what next?. Migration Policy Centre Research Report, 2012/14, pp. 1-35. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/24836
Himani Chauhan is an International Relations & History graduate and is currently pursuing a Masters of Migration Studies from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). She comes from a family of immigrants which has shaped her experiences, views, and interests in wanting to further explore and work in this area of study. Her area of interest includes – Migration, History and Human Rights.