us.93 They took away my mobile phone. They took my money. They beat
me. They stripped me of my clothes except my underpants. There were
about 20 of us on the boat. They did the same to the others that they did
to me.
The navy took us to a small island. The island had one small building.
There was one guy there, a shepherd. The building had a Greek flag.
They didn’t keep us there. About 5 am they took all our things. They took
our telephones. They then divided us into two groups. There were two
groups of 10 and 10. They took us from their big boat and put us in small
Greek coast guard boats. They were rubber boats. They put us in the
boats and then put little holes in the boat and left us alone.
I had had a life jacket when I came on the boat from Turkey, but the Greek
navy men cut up that life jacket. They were looking for money inside it.
They cut it with a knife searching for money. They gave us a new life
jacket when they put us in the rubber boat. The life jacket had no
identification showing it was from Greece.
This was not the boat we came in. They put us in a rubber boat that
belonged to the navy. They removed our clothes. They took us out about
one hour to a place near Dikili. They took us close enough so we could
see the Turkish coast. We could see a Turkish flag on the coast.
They gave us oars to row the boat that they put small holes in. The boat
could stay afloat for about one hour. When they put us out, we could see
the Turkish flag on the shore. We could actually see a Turkish flag.
We did not see the other group of 10 people in the other rubber boat.
They arrived in Turkey before us and asked the Turkish coast guard to
save us. By the time the Turkish coast guard got to us the boat had
already sunk. One guy, Mustafa, had already died. I almost drowned. I
had a life jacket but I couldn’t swim.94
93
Migrants are often unclear about the authorities who apprehend them. Although this person (and others) used the word
“navy,” it is far more likely that he was actually referring to the Greek coast guard.
94
Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-7), Athens, May 24, 2008.
43
Human Rights Watch November 2008
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