4 | PUSH-BACK OPERATIONS FROM EUROPE’S EXTERNAL BORDERS TO TURKEY The EU’s external southeastern frontier between Turkey and Greece is more than 2.200 km long. In 2012, it saw the largest number of irregular entries to the EU out of all the EU’s external borders44, while in 2013 numbers of detections dropped significantly.45 According to the Hellenic Police, during the first nine months of 2013, 8.052 persons were arrested for crossing the sea borders and 764 persons for crossing land borders (compared to the same period of 2012: 1.329 in the Aegean Sea and 30.143 in Evros). The protection of the southeastern external borders is entrusted to the Greek authorities and the European Border Management Agency (Frontex). PRO ASYL interviewed men, women, children and vulnerable groups of people (such as unaccompanied minors, sick and elderly people) from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea – persons prima facie in need of international protection - who have allegedly been pushed back to Turkey from the Greek/European territory (from the Aegean Sea and the Evros region). All of the following findings derive directly from eye witness testimonies obtained in the frame of PRO ASYL’s research. According to them: • Push-backs as described indicate a systematic and collective practice carried out by the Greek authorities at an increasing rate. Refugees are pushed back to Turkey: a) from the Greek territorial waters, b) from the Greek islands, c) from Farmakonisi military island after being detained incommunicado, d) after a distress alert is launched, e) in Evros area at the land border directly after their arrival on Greek territory via the Evros River, either in the forest where they are trying to hide or while walking in the streets of the first village they reached in the area. Mobilization in Agean Sea | © Migreurop 8 | mAP 44 | According to Frontex’ migratory routes map, the Eastern Mediterranean Route including Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece, is by far the most used, accounting for 37.220 irregular entries into the EU in 2012. The Central Mediterranean Route (Italy and Malta) is the next largest with 10.380 detected irregular entries. The Migratory Routes Map. Available at: http://www.frontex.europa.eu/trends-and-routes/migratory-routes-map 45 | Available at: http://www.astynomia.gr/images/stories//2013/statistics13/stat_allod/etsynora.JPG ; See also Frontex Quarterly Report Q2 (April-June 2013). Available at: http://frontex.europa.eu/publications/ http://www.frontex.europa.eu/assets/Publications/Risk_Analysis/FRAN_Q2_2013.pdf pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS |9