A group of 33 people including six children and four women have been stranded on an island in Evros/Meriç river since Friday after another illegal pushback from Greece. 

Border forces on both the Greek and Turkish sides are preventing them from crossing, with both of them shooting whenever the people try to cross. One person who attempted to cross has been reported to have been swept away by the current of the river. Last night, a body was found on the Turkish shore. Although it is not clear whether the body is from the missing group member, these news only added to the stress and terror for the people still stranded on the island.

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For two days the 33 people have been stranded without shelter, food or water while temperatures at night dropped to as low as 0°C. 

One life might have been lost already, 33 others are at acute risk!

In November, Josoor was already contacted by another group from an island in the Evros river. One hour after having alerted the authorities, the Greek police returned to the island, took the group of 70 back to the Greek side and pushed them back at a different point on the border.

This is not a single outrageous incident but a systematic tactic used in pushbacks from Greece as outlined in this BVMN monthly report and is exemplified throughout many testimonies collected by Josoor and other partner organisations of the BVMN. These include: 

https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/march-6-2021-0000-nei-psathades-serem/ 

https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/february-16-2021-0000-lavara-karayusuflu/ 

https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/january-8-2021-0000-near-nea-vyssa/ 

https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/november-28-2020-2000-pythion-kurttepe/ 

https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/november-14-2020-0000-dilofos-kapikule/ 

Human lives cannot be abused as leverage in a political conflict! Both the Greek and Turkish authorities are violating human rights and wilfully putting 33 lives at risk. These incidents also implicate Frontex, the agency which is supposed to protect fundamental rights on our borders, but ignores these incidents and evades responsibility with ludicrous excuses.

Update Sunday, 11.4., 4.45pm local time: Josoor has lost contact with the group after a group of people arrived on the island and demanded the group to hand over their phones. It is unclear whether these were authorities from the Greek or Turkish side.

Update Monday, 12.4., 9am local time: Josoor got back in touch with the group. They tell us that Greek police came back for them on Sunday, took them to Greek territory - not without again searching and beating them - and then pushed them back on a different spot, again to an island. On this second island, "many people" had already been gathered for several days as well. Our contact now estimates there to be around 120 people in total.
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Update Monday, 12.4., 10am local time: Turkish authorities just arrived on the island and said they will take all of the ~120 people to a detention facility.