A beautiful Greek island that once saw more than 3,500 illegal migrants a day landing on its shores and “dead bodies” floating in the sea has turned the tide on arrivals by implementing a controversial new tactic. Lesbos in Greecesits in the Aegean Sea just a few miles from the Turkish coast.
For years illegal migrants escaping from the Middle East and Africa have been getting in dinghys and making the seven-mile journey from Turkey to Lesbos in the hopes of being granted asylum in an EU country. In a situation that mirrors the British small boats crisis in the Channel, Greek authorities struggled to stop the illegal migrants arriving on the island and locals feared economic and humanitarian disaster.
But now the numbers of men, women and children reaching Lesbos in the small vessels has plummeted to just over 1,700 in total for the whole of this year, compared to 18,518 illegal entrants into the UK from the Channel over the same time period.
The massive reduction appears to be directly linked to a new Greek policy of “pushbacks” whereby the authorities intercept the small boats at sea and force them back into Turkish waters. At the same time, Turkey is also using law enforement to stop the boats leaving for Lesbos and returns any craft and their occupants to the mainland.
Human rights’ campaigners claim the practice of “push backs” is illegal, but local Lesbos fisherman Thanassis Marmarinos told The Sun the migration crisis became so bad he saw horrific scenes at sea.
He told the paper: “Every day there were thousands of migrants crossing. For five months I couldn’t make any money because I would spend all my time trying to stop them drowning.
“People were asking for help and they were dying in the water, so I had no other option. I saw the corpses floating in the sea with my own eyes.”
Mr Marmarinos said people smugglers were exploiting the desperate migrants and charging as much as £1,700 for a place on a dangerously overload dinghy to make the 90-minute crossing to Lesbos.
It comes as it was reported Vladimir Putin’s Russia and other foreign powers are fuelling illegal migration into Britain by supplying fake documents, transport and even military escorts to people smugglers.
Waiter Kristos Condeli, 60, said the illegal migrant crossings, sparked by war in the Middle East in 2015, “destroyed tourism” on the island for a few years.
He said: “The cruise ships stopped coming here because they didn’t want passengers to see corpses floating in the sea. There were thousands of migrants coming here and some of them resorted to stealing to survive.
“It got to the point that it was no longer safe to leave your bag in your car as someone would smash the window and steal it.
“The number of migrants crossing is down significantly in recent years and it’s all thanks to the coastguard and Frontex (EU border agency), who are doing a fantastic job. The UK could learn a lot from the things done here.”
According to the latest report from the Aegean Boat Report, a Norwegian NGO which monitors migrant crossings in the region, between June 16 and 22, a total of 41 boats carrying 1,050 attempted to reach Greek islands including Lesbos after launching from the Turkish coast.
The report said “21 boats were stopped/pushed back, and 525 people were registered on the Greek Islands”, adding that “so far this year 412 boats have been picked up by the Turkish Coast Guard and police” accounting for “10,271 people”.
A statement by Aegean Boat Report said: “Systematic human rights violations at the Greek sea border have been ongoing for over five years.
“Almost 100,000 people have been illegally and violently removed from Greek territory and pushed back towards Turkey, over 1,000 people have been killed in these illegal operations.”
