• Most of the interviewees, tried to enter into European territory more than once, after
having been pushed back and were therefore exposed to further risks. In one case
reported to PRO ASYL, an Eritrean refugee who was pushed back from the Evros
region and then tried to cross the borders from the sea is missing since the Çanakkale
shipwreck (31.7.13).50
In the following chapters, we will attempt a thorough delineation of the push-back
operations, from the Aegean Sea and Evros region.
49 | See for example: UN General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of
migrants, François Crépeau: Addendum – Turkey, 17 April 2013, Paragraph 48, 53, 60, 65, 69. Available at:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/23/46/Add.2 and Euro- Mediterranean Human
Rights Network, An EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement – Undermining the rights of migrants, refugees
and asylum seekers?, 20 June 2012, page 10. Available at:
http://www.euromedrights.org/eng/2013/06/20/an-eu-turkey-readmission- agreement-underminingthe-rights-of-migrants-refugees-and-asylum-seekers/. IRIN News (2012) “Turkey: Syrian refugees
choosing to work risk exploitation”. Available at: http://www.irinnews.org/report/97125/turkey-syrianrefugees-choosing-to-; European Commission, Turkey Progress Report 2012, 10 October 2012, page
75. Available at:
http://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?Index=no&command=com.instranet.CmdBlob2013/04/1
;
2/us-turkey-refugeesidUSBRE930XO20130412Get&InstranetImage=1521616&SecMode=1&DocId=1501516&Usage=2
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Turkey, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Briefing Note, 16 November 2012,
page7. Available at: http://www.hyd.org.tr/staticfiles/files/20121116_hca_turkey_briefingnotesyrianrefugees.pdf , and Amnesty International, Stranded: Refugees in Turkey denied protection (Index: EUR
44/001/2009), 22 April 2009. Available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR44/001/2009.
50 | M.A. (24 years old), from Eritrea / pushed back from Evros in May 2013; Interviewed in Athens (Greece),
August 19, 2013; “24 illegal migrants die as boat sinks off Çanakkale coast”. Available at: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-322356-24-illegal-migrants-die-as-boat-sinks-off-canakkale-coast.html
12 | pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS
Lesvos 2013 | © Fatima Hassan
pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS
| 13
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