‘In one direction of the horizon we saw a lot of thunder and it was raining and in the other side the sea was rough with a lot of waves. Our boat was taking on water. We used our own shoes, to take the water out of the boat. There were a lot of children with us. Even though we kept shouting and screaming for help, they didn’t react at all. The Greeks tied our boat to theirs with a rope and started pulling us upwards and downwards and were making very fast circles. We were shouting for help telling them that our boat has a problem. They didn’t care. They were doing that for four hours. They then brought us in the middle of the high waves, untied the rope and left us there. (…) We couldn’t hear any sound of a boat’s engine nor could we see their lights. They were safe in their ship and we were left outside in the rough sea.’ 83 ‘They tied the boat in the back of their vessel and pulled it. (…) The coastguards turned off the lights of their boat and took us into the Turkish waters.’ 84 • In the majority of cases the pushed back refugees were allegedly left adrift, until a Turkish coastguard eventually rescued them. In some instances, refugees had to wait for many hours to be rescued. While in cases where they happened to have a mobile, they notified the Turkish emergency number and were rescued soon thereafter. In a few cases, the Greek coastguard allegedly waited in a distance and observed, until the Turkish coastguard rescued them. Interviewees believed that in these cases the Turkish coastguard was notified by the Greek coastguard. ‘Our boat had neither an engine, nor paddles but they threw us in it. We stayed in the water from 11:45 until 5 o’clock in the morning. The boat was taking on water. The Turkish police found and rescued us.’ 85 • In a few cases people had to reach the Turkish coast by themselves. ‘We had to roam with our hands and with one paddle back to the Turkish coast.’ 86 82 | G.A.N., from Afghanistan / pushed back once from Evros in June 2013 and twice from Lesvos in end July 2013 / beginning of August; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), September 23, 2013 83 | A. and Z., from Afghanistan (two women with children) / two pushed back in October 2012 from Lesvos; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), January 1, 2013 84 | K.A., A.A., A.R., A.H., A.S., A.M. and B.F., from Syria / pushed back from the Aegean Sea near Didim on 28.8.13; Interviewed in Izmir (Turkey), August 29, 2013 85 | O.M., M.M. and D.M., from Syria (Afrin) / pushed back from Leros; Interviewed in Izmir (Turkey), August 29, 2013 86 | M. (21 years old), from Afghanistan / pushed-back in January 2013 from Lesvos; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), February 15, 2013. With his elderly mother, who had her fingers amputated due to the journey from Iran to Turkey. 22 | pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS ‘We took the bottles of the water we had with us and we used them as paddles. But whatever we did, we couldn’t do anything. Because there were waves and they were taking us elsewhere. (…) We weren’t enough to pull the boat, so one by one all men jumped into the water leaving my mother and my sisters in the boat. They were taking the water out of the boat with water bottles and we, the men, were pulling the boat to the shore. I think this lasted for one and a half hour or two hours.’ 87 • In three cases, where people said that they had tried to puncture their own boat, in order to force the coastguards not to push them back, they said that their dinghy was brought on board and rigged and they were put back into it later.88 In one case, interviewees alleged that the fast boat left and fetched another dinghy that wasn’t the one with which they had come.89 In some cases the refugees were allegedly left alone in the sea after puncturing their boat, which was then taking on water and slowly breaking.90 In yet another case the dinghy sank after puncturing and the Greek coastguard allegedly didn’t intervene for rescue despite the fact that they were present with three of their boats. ‘They then took us all on board. (…) The commandos called another vessel. The other boat took our rubber boat to fix it. It was very cold and we stayed all night on the deck of the commando vessel. (…) They brought our boat in the morning. They took us back into the Turkish waters. They threw our boat into the water, but they hadn’t fixed it well. They took away the paddles and the engine. They then forced all 45 of us back into our dinghy by aiming their guns at us. We had to return back to the Turkish coast, by using our own hands for paddles. Thank God, we arrived in Turkey.’ 91 87 | Y.H. (40 years old), wife N.T. (32 years old), A.H. (m) (15 years old), S.K. (f) (13 years old), S.H. (f) (7 years old), S.H. (f) (9 years old), from Afghanistan / pushed back from Lesvos on 13.7.2013; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos), July 23, 2013 88 | A.B. (27 years old) and M.B. (28 years old) from Syria / pushed back from Chios island on 27.8.13; Interviewed in Izmir (Turkey), August 29, 2013 and I., M. and F., from Somalia (with her 1 year old daughter) / pushed back from Evros 2.5.13 and from Lesvos 8.5.13; Telephone interview, May 26, 2013; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), June 7, 2013; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), June 13, 2013 and R.D., from Syria / pushed back from the Aegean in summer 2013; Interviewed in Frankfurt a.M. airport (Germany), June 20, 2013 89 | I. (brother), M. (husband) and F. (wife), from Somalia (with their 1 year old daughter) / pushed back from Evros 2.5.13 and from Lesvos 8.5.13; Telephone interview, May 26, 2013, Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), June 7, 2013, Interviewed in Athens (Greece), June 13, 2013 90 | G.A.N., from Afghanistan / pushed back once from Evros in June 2013 and twice from Lesvos in end July 2013 / beginning of August; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), September 23, 2013 91 | I., M. and F., from Somalia (with her 1 year old daughter) / pushed back from Evros 2.5.13 and from Lesvos 8.5.13; Telephone interview, May 26, 2013; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), June 7, 2013; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), June 13, 2013 pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS | 23