D.M.: The coastguard arrived around 19:45. The sea was wavy and we were gulping seawater. Some people had lost their senses, especially the two children. We were crying and we were hoping that the fishes would come and eat us. M.M.: The coastguard’s boat was a big one. With an open grey color, it was a steel boat around 15 meters long. There were five persons on board. The boat had the European stars on its side. The officers were wearing black clothes, black t-shirts and have had no masks on their faces. The number of the boat was ΛΣ 69. One of the men was thin. He was around 1,70 meters tall, he had blue eyes and he was blonde, with very short hair. His hair was almost shaved. (…) He started talking on the phone. They first told us to be quite. We were silent for about 45 minutes. They kept talking on the phone. They told us to sit down with our hands behind our neck. O.M.: They first took the woman and the two kids on their boat. There was one woman and two small children. The rest of us remained in our boat. Then they took us one by one on their boat and brought us to Farmakonisi, the military island. Once in Farmakonisi, they made us all lie down with our faces looking on the cement. The woman with the two girls weren’t forced to lie on the cement. This lasted for about two hours. They beat us in the faces and in the groin area. They told us: ‘Syria, rubbish people’. Whoever tried to talk, they grabbed him from the neck, trying to choke him. There were only the five men from the coastguard boat. Then some soldiers came, but they didn’t touch us. D.M.: One of us was beaten a lot. They took his clothes off, while he was on the dock. Then they took us to the basketball field. They also took off the clothes of the other people and left them in their underwear. They didn’t do that to the woman and the two girls. One of the five officers was beating us a lot. He had a small beard and a shaved head. He was fat; 1.55-1.60 meters tall. He had dark skin, wore black trousers and a black t-shirt. He would beat with kicks and punches. Two of them were beating us, by putting us in between them as if we were a soccer ball. From O.M. they took 500 euros and from the others as well. They didn’t take the Turkish lira. They only took Euros and the mobile phones. From another guy from our group they took 1.000 euro. M.M., who is suffering from severe pains in the back, asked for his medicine. After two hours they just gave him one pill. O.M.: They beat us for two hours in the basketball court. Then they took us to the camp that was nearby and left us without water and food till the following day. We felt we wanted to vomit, but our stomachs were empty and there was nothing that could come 50 | aNNEX-iNTERVIEWS out. Some of the people from our group remained unconscious for 3-4 hours in the camp. First, no one of the Greeks asked us anything. They just said: ‘Fuck off the Turks and the Syrians’. Then they asked us one by one, why we wanted to go to Athens. I told them I’m a refugee and I risk losing my head in Syria. They started laughing at me and they beat me. They said ‘Mr., Mr., Turkey, Turkey’. There was one man, who was tall and a little bit fat. He had his hair cut as a soldier. He gave an aspirin to each one of us for the headache. He was polite. We asked him to bring M.M.’s medicines for his back. He went, but he brought just one pill. M.M. told him that one is not enough for his problem, but the man told him he could not bring others, because the officers were watching him. (…) We spent two nights and one day on Farmakonisi island. Then, around 12:00 in the evening the same five men who had brought us in Farmakonisi, along with the guy who beat us a lot in the basketball field, took us back to the boat. We only ate once in two days and we were only allowed to drink water from the toilet. 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 us and rescued us. They took us in Didim’s Police Station. (…)’. Ar.K.N. (metastatic cancer patient), An.K.N. and F.K.N. (65 years old)155/ pushed back from Samos in 19.8.2013 while having launched a distress alert Note: On September 19, 2013 PRO ASYL was contacted by a person that we had already interviewed and he alleged that the boat he was travelling with was in distress near the island of Samos. Relatives of the passengers informed the JRCC (Rescue Center in Pireaus). PRO ASYL also informed the JRCC. The boat was located and allegedly pushed back to Turkey. On September 20, 2013 PRO ASYL contacted a telephone interview with three of the people on that boat [passengers] . An.K.N.: We were very close to Samos. We could see the island. There were some uninhabited houses on the island, on our right hand. In the north, we couldn’t see many houses. It happened around 19:00 in the afternoon. Ar.K.N. (cancer patient): Yesterday it was the worst day of my live. I have never seen so much hate in my life. The engine of the boat broke. Someone from our group called his 155 | Interviewed 20.9.13 via telephone; See also push-back from Farmakonisi 8.8.13 and push-back from Chios island 12.9.13 aNNEX-iNTERVIEWS | 51