‘Suddenly some Afghans cut our boat with a knife. We were 45 persons and we all fell in the sea. The boat started sinking. Even though the coastguards saw the boat sinking and all of us falling into the water, they didn’t come to help us. Not one of them helped us. Some of us were almost drowning and three boats of the Greek coastguards were watching. We stayed for one hour in the water: women, men and children. We were holding ourselves from a small part of the rubber boat that had not sunk yet. I was among those who stayed for an hour in the water. After one and half hour, while people were crying ‘help, help’ and some others were crying, the Turkish coastguards arrived.’ 92 In two other cases, interviewees alleged that they were left close to the Turkish coasts. ‘They forced us back to the boat. There was no air left in our boat. They put our boat in the sea, where these red things are and took us down. Then they left, leaving us there.’ 93 ‘They literally left us offshore, in the Turkish side. We jumped offshore and walked (…)’.94 • In the vast majority of cases the people were rescued and arrested by the Turkish coastguard after being pushed-back. ‘About 20 minutes later they [the Turkish coastguard] arrived with their boat and we entered it one after the other. Then we drove for one hour or a bit longer until we reached the Turkish shore. They asked us what had happened. Then they told us they would bring us to a camp [detention center] for a few days until they could be sure about our identities. We stayed in the camp 20 days.’ 95 92 | A., from Eritrea / pushed back twice from Lesvos in 2013; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), June 8, 2013 93 | 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 94 | K.A. (Syria) / pushed back from the strait of Samos on 27.9.13 / Interviewed on October 2, 2013 in Athens 95 | R.D., from Syria / pushed back from the Aegean in summer 2013; Interviewed in Frankfurt a.M. airport (Germany), June 20, 2013 24 | pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS 4.1.2 | Push-backs from the Islands • Some refugees claimed that they were pushed back after getting offshore and walking on the Greek islands’ streets. They claimed that they knew on which island they were, as they had checked it on their mobile (Google Maps). Allegedly when the Greek authorities sighted them, they were arrested, badly beaten and then forced back onto their dinghies. Afterwards, they were pulled back into the Turkish waters and were left adrift. No official registration of the arrest ever took place.96 (Syriza, a political party, alleged that a similar incident took place in the island of Limnos. See below the complete allegation and the response of the pertinent authority97). 96 | See ‘interviews’, ‘Pushed back from the islands’ 97 | In August local branch of Syriza, main opposition party has claimed that the coastguard on Limnos island pushed back to Turkey Syrian refugees who had disembarked on the northeastern Aegean island. Syriza Limnou, Announcement: ‘Limnos 31.8.13; Allegation: We denounce the unprecedented and unlawful actions of Limnos Port Authorities on August 29, when a group of 29 migrants with no legal documents disembarked with a small boat in Plaka. We also denounce the incredible story ‘staged’ by the Port Authority (with the tolerance, cooperation and cover up of the police authorities of Limnos) for justifying the illegal and against refugee law and the international obligations of the country, push back of migrants in Turkey. Specifically, on Thursday at dawn, at around 6:00 o’clock in the morning, 15-20 migrants disembark in Plaka, among them women and children. Residents of the village inform the police and the port authority which proceed with their arrest. Instead of following the legal, according to the law, detention procedure, screening and referral to the main city centers, the port authorities, obviously following orders from their superiors, embark the refugees on their small boat and push them back in the Turkish waters and to the Turkish coastguard. In order to justify their unlawful act, they mentioned that the migrants did not disembark on the island, but were sighted around 5 o’clock in the afternoon (11 hours after their disembarkation), at the borderline between Limnos and Imbros Island and before entering into Greek territorial waters. We consider that this is not an accidental incident. It inaugurates a new (at least for Limnos) practice of the Port authorities, of push-back of migrants and refugees with summary and illegal proceedings, while at the same time flagrantly violating human rights, refugee law and international obligations. And all this even if fake stories and scenarios have to be ‘staged’ by the state authorities that can cover the pushback. We also consider that the immediate investigation of the incident is necessary and those involved in this incident should be held accountable. And we insist: The display of power to desperate people, underage children and babies, to refugees and migrants that abandon their place apparently for their survival, does not constitute a migration policy. Moreover, they do not guarantee in any way, the security of the Greek citizens. In reality, there become dangerous administrative habits, that become generalized and in practice they nullify any sense of security and for the Greek citizen. The temporary secretariat of Syriza Limnos’ Available at: http://syrizalimnou.gr/?p=1475 The answer of the Hellenic Coastguard: ‘Inaccurate announcement concerning illegal push-back of migrants’: ‘Following an announcement published in a website denouncing the Hellenic Coastguard about an incident of refoulement of migrants on Thursday 29.8.13 in Limnos, the Headquarters of the Hellenic Coastguard announces the following: On August 29 and at 17:15 the Rescue Center of the Ministry of Shipping and of the Aegean, received a distress alert which derived, subsequent to further investigation from the Turkish waters. At 17:18 the counterpart Rescue Center in Ankara was informed and responded by sending at 19:20 a vessel that collected the people on the boat, within the Turkish waters. It is noted that since August 2012 until today the Hellenic Coastguard has saved and rescued pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS | 25