In six rescue operations, Turkish coast guard teams rescue 180 irregular migrants after they were illegally pushed back by Greek elements.
The Turkish coast guard has rescued scores of irregular migrants in rubber boats, pushed back to Turkish territorial waters by Greek forces, off the coast of Mugla, Izmir, and Aydin provinces.
According to statements from the Coast Guard Command, their teams on Friday rescued 25 migrants off the coast of Muğla in two operations, 125 migrants off the coast of Izmir in three operations, and 30 migrants off the coast of Aydin in one operation.
Coast Guard boats were dispatched upon reports of irregular migrants off the coasts of the Aegean districts of Bodrum, Datca, Dikili, Menderes and Kusadasi.
The migrants rescued from the rubber boats, which were determined to have been pushed into Turkish territorial waters by Greek elements, are directed to the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management following due procedures.
Türkiye and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back irregular migrants.
Greece’s migrant pushbacks
Pushbacks not only violate humanitarian values, but also international law, by endangering the lives of vulnerable refugees and migrants including women and children.
Athens is infamous for its cruel treatment of refugees and migrants. Hundreds of refugees and migrants were feared dead from a migrant boat that sank off southwestern Greece on June 14.
As many as 750 people may have been on board the 30-metre-long fishing boat that capsized and sank about 80 kilometres from Greece’s southern coastal town of Pylos.
Just over 100 people survived the shipwreck, and 82 bodies have been recovered so far. Hundreds of refugees and migrants are still missing.
Some accounts suggest the accident happened when a Greek Coast Guard vessel tried to tow the overcrowded migrant boat into Italian waters.
Source: TRT World
