“Everything was like a nightmare.”
The respondent was pushed back from Greece to Turkey twelve times. The first time, he was caught at the Greek border and pushed-back by an unidentified group. The second time, the respondent arrived approximately 30-35km from Thessaloniki. They tried to stop police officers in cars for help but were offered no assistance. At nightime, a white car stopped beside the respondent, 3 friends who had made the journey with him were inside. He was told the car would be taking them to Thessaloniki, however instead they were taken to near the Ipsala border crossing. During the night, they were pushed back to Turkey.
The respondent stated he wanted to claim asylum but was told ‘no’ and then beaten with a stick. The push-back was being carried out by ‘masked men’. The respondent stated that sometimes there were police officers during the day time but during the night it was only ‘masked people with military uniforms and stick and electrical sticks’. After they were pushed back, they were caught by the Gendarmerie and put in the Edirne camp. ‘They took our blood, photos and 10 euros from each of us to send us back to Istanbul’.
The respondent was caught multiple more times in Greece and pushed back to Turkey. He was caught in the town of Komotini, on a truck with 180 people. His phone and money was taken. The respondent had sent their location to a friend who sent a lawyer to the detention centre. He was then moved detention centre 2 more times. The families were told they would be sent to a camp, but when the respondent was pushed back to Turkey he saw the families there too. ‘Two four-year-old girls could not move their legs, they had some kind of disease. Even them, they sent them back’. On a different pushback, the respondent stated they were made to take all their clothes off, and if you didn’t ‘they beat you in the sensitive places’. The respondent stated an incident where large sums of money were taken from them and another family. During a search, 100 euros was found on him. When they got off the boat in Turkey, the respondent was beaten until they handed over the money ‘So I gave him the 100 euros, but another family gave him 2,500 euros. He demanded it from them, and so they gave it’.
On the respondents 9th attempt, he witnessed electrical shockings. He stated they were ‘shocking us for fun’. The respondent stated that humiliation tactics were used during push backs and acts of violence were a common occurrence. ‘It’s not to scare you, its to humiliate you. Like for the girls they make them take off their hijabs and send them back to Turkey’. The respondent stated that speaking english got them more beatings. The respondent grew tired of attempting to cross to Greece as a result of multiple pushbacks.