The biggest migration attempt of the year was stopped dead by the Greek coast guard on Monday. Five sailboats and four dinghies with some 600 migrants on board were prevented from crossing the Aegean Sea and entering Greece. They had left the Turkish coast in the morning almost simultaneously and were in Turkish waters near the Greek islands of Chios and Samos, when the Greek coast guard intervened, reported one of their spokesperson.
“Greek patrol boats were able to quickly locate the vessels and inform the Turkish coast guard,” he said, pointing out that all the boats either turned back or were intercepted by the Turkish coast guard. All the boats were then “inside Turkish territorial waters”, he added.
Athens regularly accuses Ankara of not taking enough action against smugglers who send migrants in makeshift boats from Turkey in violation of a 2016 agreement between Ankara and the EU. For their part, the Greek authorities, accused by NGOs of illegal refoulement of exiles to Turkish waters or territory, have tightened their border controls. Athens has always denied carrying out such illegal pushbacks.