20/05: 1 boat carrying 20 people near to Farmakonisi taken back to Turkey, 1 boat carrying 23 people pushed back to Turkey

21.05.2019 / 13:02 / Aegean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of May 2019
Case name: 2019_05_20-AEG527
Situation: 1 boat carrying 20 people near to Farmakonisi taken back to Turkey, 1 boat carrying 23 people pushed back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Monday the 20th of May 2019 we were alerted to two boats, one on the way to Samos, one on the way to Farmakonisi. Both cases ended with the travellers being brought back to Turkey.
At around 7am CEST a refugee boat carrying 23 people (including 2 children and 10 women) got in distress near Samos and were allegedly pushed back to Turkey. At 7:40am a position about 3km north-east of Samos was sent to the Alarmphone via a third person. People on the boat stated “There were masked men, then a big ship came that took us to Turkish waters. It was a military ship with four different flags”. Refugees referred to NATO in a related social media post and described the boat’s flags as Greek, American and possibly Turkish. The refugees reported that the big boat had remained nearby and was waiting at a distance, watching them being pulled back.

At 12:19pm the shift team was alerted to a boat close to Farmakonisi carrying 20 people. At 1:30pm we contacted the Greek coastguard and gave them the information we had, but were told that there had been no rescues in that area so far that morning. We tried any failed to communicate with the Turkish coastguard. At 4:12pm the Greek coastguard informed us that although they had been unable to contact the boat directly they were aware that the Turkish coastguard had completed a search & rescue operation in the same area earlier in the morning. We learned from a family member of one of the travellers that during their last contact with the boat (4.30am) the people from the boat had reported seeing the Turkish coastguard, the Greek coastguard and a UN vessel. At 5:40pm we learned that the boat had been intercepted by the Turkish coastguard and the travellers were taken to prison. At 5:47pm the Turkish coastguard confirmed that they had taken the boat back to Turkey.

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans