Türkiye releases footage of Greece’s migrant pushback

Türkiye’s Defense Ministry on July 22 released aerial footage showing a Greek coast guard vessel forcibly pushing a group of irregular migrants toward Turkish territorial waters, noting that the group had been rescued by Turkish authorities.

The incident was documented by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) belonging to the Turkish Naval Forces during routine surveillance activities, the ministry said in a statement.

The video appears to show a Greek coast guard boat towing a rubber dinghy filled with migrants off the eastern coast of the Greek island of Samos, before releasing it near Yılancı Burnu, just across from the Turkish town of Kuşadası.

The ministry said that after being left adrift, the boat was then pulled further east by a nearby civilian vessel and eventually abandoned in Turkish territorial waters.

Turkish coast guard units, dispatched to the area shortly thereafter, rescued the migrants, the statement added.

Greece, frequent first destination for asylum seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, has long faced accusations from humanitarian groups of engaging in pushbacks — the illegal practice of forcibly returning migrants across borders without proper asylum procedures.

The released footage includes drone visuals capturing the exact moment the migrants were left in Turkish waters despite Athens insistence that its border operations are conducted in line with international norms.

Ankara has repeatedly called on international institutions to hold Greece accountable for such expulsions.