Refugees arrive on the Greek island of Kos from Turkey in their rubber dinghy
Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been making politics with human lives for a long time.
In the struggle with the European Union, he repeatedly deported Syrian asylum seekers to the Turkish-Greek border in order to secure a better basis for negotiations.
In a refugee deal, the EU pays Turkey money so that the Syrian refugees can be looked after.
Now Erdoğan is stepping up - and accusing Greece of pushing back migrants.
We know who is going to pierce migrants' boats and make them sink - »Neighbor Greece«, Erdoğan said on Monday at a conference on migration at a university in Izmir.
Turkey keeps making the world aware of it, but it goes "in one ear and out the other," said Erdoğan.
According to Erdoğan, there were almost 9,000 cases of so-called pushbacks in the Aegean in 2020 alone.
Erdoğan also accused the EU border protection agency Frontex of having been involved in legal violations.
Greece and Frontex reject such allegations.
On Sunday, the Greek migration minister, Notis Mitarakis, said that the allegations of so-called pushbacks were "part of the comprehensive fake news strategy" promoted by Turkey through some non-governmental organizations and smuggling networks.
Turkey is also sending back those seeking protection
However: Erdoğan's accusations are true.
Since May 2020, DER SPIEGEL has been tracing how the Greek coast guard stopped boats carrying refugees in the Aegean Sea, destroyed the engines and exposed the migrants to the sea - either in the dinghies themselves or on inflatable life rafts.
Often the people are rescued hours later by the Turkish coast guard.
In addition to men and women, children are also exposed.
Research shows that Frontex units were nearby or involved in at least seven of the pushbacks.
Erdoğan himself is unlikely to have a clean slate when dealing with refugees.
He had a wall built on the border with Syria that makes it almost impossible for refugees to escape the war.
Human rights organizations denounce that Turkey is deporting refugees to the war zone in Syria.
Reports from Turkish camps also suggest that care for the refugees is very poor.
Icon: The mirror
mrc / dpa
