Updated with a reaction from the NGO
Aegean Boat Report, a Norwegian NGO dealing with refugees, has backed Turkey’s political claims against the militarisation of Greek islands triggering strong reactions on social media.
The militarisation of Greek islands neighbouring Turkey has caused a new row between Athens and Ankara.
In a tweet, the NGO said, “Filling the islands with American military equipment can be seen, by some, as a provocation, especially since it’s a violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty”.
Turkey says the move is against the treaties mentioned above.
For its part, Greece says it’s legitimate given the “casus belli” (threat for war). In this case, casus belli means that if Greece extends its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, as it reserves the right to do so under international law, it could trigger a war.
EURACTIV contacted the NGO and asked if such positions are part of its mission.
Tommy Olsen, an activist for Aegean Boat Report, admitted that this “may seem an odd topic” for an NGO dealing with the “Greek government’s brutal, barbaric and of course entirely illegal pushbacks”.
“The Greek government’s attacks on its Turkish counterpart are, of course, its own business, and we would not normally comment. But in recent months, the Greek prime minister, and ministers of migration and civil protection, have increasingly claimed that the Turkish government has ‘instrumentalised’ refugees, while at the same time increasing public attacks on that government in other ways,” Olsen said.
He added that this presents a severe problem because, as a result, every new attack on the Turkish government “becomes an attack on men, women and children seeking safe places to live, learn and work, which is those people’s right as human beings.”
Effectively, the Greek government has, in this way, weaponised refugees, he noted.
He also stressed that this increases tension on the Eastern Aegean Islands, which can worsen the situation for new arrivals on those islands.
“This absolutely is not just related, but central, to our role as an NGO.”
Olsen added that in this context, the NGO felt it necessary to respond to the prime minister’s claims that Greece does not provoke Turkey and has international law on its side.
“We did not respond with anger or unpleasantness. We merely pointed out the simple fact that militarising the Eastern Aegean Islands, as the Greek government is doing and has admitted it is doing, certainly could be seen as provocative, not least because it absolutely is in direct breach of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty and 1947 Paris Treaty.”
He added the Greek government is breaking laws it signed through the “beating, robbing, assaulting (including sexually) and in some cases killing men, women and children travelling to the EU.”
Several NGOs have accused the Greek government of pushback in the Aegean, which Athens has denied. For its part, Greece says Turkey even facilitates refugees crossing the Aegean to step up political pressure on the EU.
Both sides have published videos showing violence by their coastguards against migrants and refugees in a blame game over the critical situation in the Aegean.
Contacted by EURACTIV, a source from the Greek ministry of migration commented, “we work well together with many NGOs who support asylum seekers and recognised refugees”.
“We need to distinguish such NGOs with the very few who appear to be active in human smuggling for ideological or financial reasons,” the source said.
‘Little evidence’
Asked about Turkey’s role in the refugee waves in the Aegean, Olsen replied that this is a more complex question than it might first appear.
“Because some new arrivals to Greece have said they were told by Turkish police that they must leave for the EU or be forcibly deported to Syria […] But there is very little evidence that the Turkish government has ‘facilitated’ the journeys those people have taken”, he said.
“In fact, we know that the Turkish Coastguard has this year prevented more than 80% of people who tried to leave Turkey for Greece from doing so, and almost 60% since the EU-Turkey statement came into effect in March 2016”.
Greek Minister of Migration Notis Mitarakis recently said he has informed the European Commission about the possibility of some NGOs getting funded by “the East”.
“NGOs active in illegal immigration spread the Turkish propaganda. Every day the police monitor and know which NGOs have acted as traffickers”, he said.
Olsen also said although the Turkish government is playing political games with people’s lives as part of an election campaign, there is no serious suggestion that Ankara is ‘instrumentalising’ refugees, as the Greek government now claims.
“There are roughly 3.67 million Syrian people in Turkey, and we have seen thousands, rather than tens or hundreds of thousands, of people, attempt to reach the EU this year. Far too few to ‘trouble’ a political bloc of 448 million people”.
The NGO reacted to the statement of the Greek minister, saying his accusations are false.
“We do not help Turkish traffickers. We have not, do not, and will never work with or assist people traffickers from any part of the world. The absolute best we can say about Mr. Mitarakis’ claim is that he certainly does not know it to be true (because it is not). In fact, we believe he knows that it is not, in which case what he said was a lie. We are not ‘funded by’ the ‘East’”.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
