Last week, a video released by the New York Times showed pushbacks of migrants on the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos. Outgoing Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis assured Tuesday that his government was "conducting an investigation" "I have taken into account very seriously" this case and "an investigation is already being conducted by my government," he said in an interview on CNN.
The video, shot by a human rights activist in April on Lesvos and released Friday by the NYT, shows a group of migrants, including a baby, being driven in a white van to the southern tip of the island.
Rescued by Turkish Coast Guard
Embarked on a small boat, they are then transferred to a Greek coastguard boat before being abandoned on "a drifting black inflatable life raft", according to the NYT. Turkish Coast Guard boats then rescued them.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson have already called for an "independent and effective investigation".
The Greek authorities are regularly accused of push-backs to Turkey of people seeking asylum in the European Union, a practice condemned by international law.
Mitsotakis accuses Ankara
The Greek government has consistently rejected these accusations, despite recurring testimonies from migrants and NGO reports. Under EU rules, a migrant's first country of entry into the European Union is responsible for their asylum application.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated that he had pursued a "strict but fair" migration policy for four years and welcomed "having significantly reduced the activity of traffickers". He called the practice of pushbacks "totally unacceptable" and again accused neighboring Turkey and Turkish port police of "pushing desperate people into Greek territory in inflatable boats that cannot sail."
The CNN interview comes two days after the landslide victory of the conservative New Democracy party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the parliamentary elections.