Greek coast guard sinks refugee boat; Turkey rescues all 58 refugees

Turkish security sources said the Greek Coast Guard punctured the inflatable rubber dinghy with some sort of “lance," while Turkish coast guard unit rescued all 58 refugees and took them back to the Didim Port.

Upon notification from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC/PİRE) at 04:19 am on November 12, 2015 that a group of refugees on a rubber inflatable boat off the southwest of Tekağaç Cape in Didim district called for help, a Coast Guard boat was deployed to the area in question, Turkish authorities said on Friday.

At around 06:00 am, the deployed Coast Guard vessel detected the rubber boat carrying refugees and was attempting to stop the boat when the Greek Coast Guard boat also arrived at the scene.

The refugee boat directly manoeuvred towards the Greek Coast Guard vessel, yet the crew on the Greek boat prevented the manoeuvre by targeting the rubber boat and the refugees on board with a whisker pole (with a sharp metal tip).

When the boat attempted the same manoeuvre again, the Greek Coast Guard officials punctured the inflatable rubber boat with the whisker pole and swiftly sailed away from the scene.

As the refugee dinghy started taking on water and the refugees started falling into the sea, the Turkish Coast Guard units rescued everyone aboard and took them back to Didim port.

This was not the first time that Greek Coast guard has attacked a refugee boat and left it to sink in the sea. On mid-August, another boat was downed by Greek officials, as Turkish fishermen filmed the incident.

At the beginning of the four-and-half-year-long Syrian civil war, Turkey opened its door for Syria's civilians fleeing the chaos. As a part of its struggle with huge refugee influx, Turkey has spent 7.6 billion dollars for 2.2 million refugees, mostly from Syria.

The refugee crisis has become one of the most discussed issues in 2015, as the number of refugees and displaced people exceeds 50 million, according to a UN figure. Europe is the favored destination for the refugees, who mainly come from Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Turkey has mobilized all its resources to handle the influx. It stepped up border security and deployed more coast guard personnel.

Turkey has alone been struggling in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, the two most popular routes for refugees to reach Europe, with a higher number of ships and staff compared to those deployed by EU countries in a joint operation called "TRITON."

A total of 79,489 refugees were rescued alive at sea between January 1 and November 19 this year, Turkish authorities estimate.

It said the cases of irregular migration by the water way have increased over 500 percent between 2014 and 2015.

After a declaration from the EU countries, particularly Germany, that they will take more refugees, the number of Syrians trying to cross into EU territory increased rapidly in 2015.

According to the data provided by the International Organization for Migration, approximately 464,000 irregular migrants crossed the Mediterranean between 1 January and 15 September 2015. Another 812 of these irregular migrants lost their lives.

Turkey adopts an attitude that prioritizes human life with the meticulous efforts of the Turkish Coast Guard Command during rescue operations. The death rate in the operations conducted by European countries in the Eastern Mediterranean is 1.6 percent, whereas the death rate in the operations conducted by Turkey is 0.1 percent.

Some resources have started to label the 21st century as the “refugee century." There are over 230 million migrants on earth. Some of them travel to other countries for a better life, while most of them were forcibly displaced or flee from inequalities, injustice, poverty, war, conflict and domestic unrest.

A recent survey conducted by Turkey's Coast Guard Command shows the refugee influx seems impossible to stop unless the motivations for leaving their home countries are fully eliminated.

The survey results of refugees' behavioral profiles showed that they take all risks to reach wealthy countries by sea. They may attempt the perilous journey repeatedly until they succeed.

It is confirmed that when their first attempt fails, the money paid by irregular migrants will be used for their second and even third attempts, the survey report said.

More than 200 irregular migration organizers have been apprehended and numerous rings dismantled since 2014 as a result of coordinated efforts by Turkey's security forces to prevent irregular migration activities before they begin.

European countries continue to ignore the refugee crisis and only take measures for themselves instead of finding solutions to the political and socio-economic causes of the problem, the report said.