.• Many of those affected, are Syrian refugees trying to enter Europe to seek international protection and to reunite with their families that live in various European countries. incommunicado and deprived of any rights for periods ranging from 16 hours to three days, before being pushed back and left adrift in Turkish waters. • In many cases, either on coast guard boats, provisory on islands or in informal • Push-back operations (from the sea and land borders) in the way they are carried out detention places in Evros, refugees were arbitrarily detained for some hours, without being officially registered, without access to the outside world and without any food and water offered. as described by refugees, put their lives at risk. People expressed that they were terrified, as they could not protect their lives and dignity, nor did they know what exactly would happen to them. • In the Aegean, in almost all cases, the officers involved in the push-back operations • Refugees reported being forced and even threatened with guns to return to Turkish wore “black uniforms, carried guns and wore full face-covering masks”. In other cases, officers were “wearing blue uniforms”. In Evros they were described either as wearing blue, military green or dark green uniforms, accompanied by some people in plainclothes, and others wearing full face masks. waters. • In the majority of cases, the pushed back refugees claim to have been left in life threatening situations upon being pushed back in the Aegean when left adrift in unseaworthy boats or being thrown in the water of river Evros. • Many of the interviewees claimed that their personal belongings (mobiles, money) were arbitrarily taken away and not given back. Many Syrians alleged that they also have had their documents taken away. • With regards to the pushback operations from the Aegean Sea, some refugees alleged that even though, they had dialled the emergency number to launch a distress alert, when they were later on located by the Greek authorities, they were pushed back.47 • All of the interviewees stressed to PRO ASYL, that they were not heard by the Greek authorities, that they were not afforded an opportunity to either ask for international protection or to challenge their removal back to Turkey. Even in those cases, where refugees told PRO ASYL that they had explicitly requested international protection and/or not to be removed because they were refugees fleeing war, their pleas were in vain.46 • Once pushed back to Turkey, refugees were allegedly arrested and detained under degrading detention conditions. Some of them faced the risk to be deported to their countries of origin, without being offered the chance to seek international protection (among them Afghans, Iranians and Iraqis who are in risk of chain-refoulement 48). • During their stay in Turkey they faced the lack of an effective refugees’ protection system, • The majority of the interviewees claimed that they had been ill-treated. In the cases of those who were pushed back from the island of Farmakonisi, the severity of the reported ill-treatment towards nine male Syrian refugees could amount to torture. were subjected to deploring living conditions and were exposed to a series of other human rights violations as Turkey is not considered a safe country for refugees.49 • Three push-back incidents concerning Farmakonisi (an uninhabited island, except for a military unit) were reported, involving dozens of refugees from Syria, claiming to have been apprehended by Greek coastguards either just off the coast of the island, or after their arrival on the island. The refugees report that they were detained 46 | For example: M., from Afghanistan / pushed back from Samos on 5.7.13; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), August 1, 2013 and A. (16 years old), M. (14 years old) and J. (9 years old), from Syria (three unaccompanied minors with another underage brother) / pushed back from the Aegean in November 2012; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), June 22, 2013 10 | pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS 47 | Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing rules for the surveillance of the external sea borders in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Members States of the European Union – see Greece’s position on article 9 (search and Rescue). Available at: http://www.ipex.eu/IPEXL-WEB/dossier/document/COM20130197.do 48 | A.K., from Afghanistan was pushed back from Evros in December 2011 after being arrested by the Greek authorities. He was deported back to Afghanistan from Turkey. Thereafter, he managed to escape and enter Greece again. Interviewed in Athens (Greece), December 15, 2012 / M. (16 years old), from Afghanistan was pushed back from Evros in August 2012. His relative who accompanied him was arrested in Turkey and was deported back to Afghanistan. Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), December 20, 2012 pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS | 11