Greek police forcing asylum seekers into Turkey: Report

The Greek police have been bringing in asylum seekers living in the country and expelling them to Turkey by force while using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover for their abuses, according to a report published on May 20. 

The Wall Street Journal report, based on evidence from asylum seekers who faced violence as well as lawyers and human-rights activists, said "at least 250 asylum seekers have been forcibly expelled from Greece since late March."

Simon Campbell, the field coordinator of Border Violence Monitoring Network, told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the real number is bigger than the cases reported and said "many migrants who are returned to Turkey don't
speak out."

While the Greek authorities have denied reports of extrajudicial deportations, they failed to respond to the WSJ's questions regarding the allegations by migrants and human rights groups.

Dimitris Koros, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees, defined the Greek treatment against the asylum seekers as an "illegal pushback" and not "deportation".

"It's illegal according to the Geneva convention and Greek law," Koros said.

With efforts to continue on legal ground, Koros and his group compiled testimonies from at least 10 migrants with Afghan, Pakistani, North African, Syrian and Iraqi nationalities, who recently faced forced deportation from deep inside Greece.

Underscoring that the "Greek police are targeting migrants and refugees who haven't officially filed an asylum claim," Koros said even without the official file, the Greek law allows the asylum seekers to stay in the country
for 30 days if they express an intention to apply for asylum and cannot be deported without due process.

According to the Wall...