A game with refugee lives, filmed by the governments playing it
This week, there have been lots of photos and videos shot by Greek coastguard of rubber dinghies with Turkish boats in the background. The Turkish coastguard have taken the same pictures — even showing Greek coastguard apparently trying to sink a boat of refugees.
In the middle, the people on those stranded dinghies have had to sit in distress, watching while two boats float either side of them and governments engage in what rescue group Alarm Phone described as “a dangerous game with people’s lives.”
After several years of stopping refugees since it struck a deal with the European Union, and while still keeping its border with Syria closed as 950,000 people were displaced in Idlib, Turkey suddenly announced it would allow refugees and migrants to head towards Europe. Apparently not as much a humanitarian step as a political one, given how it was announced.
When the inevitable rush came from refugees who feared the opportunity may soon be gone, Greece used force to push them back. It has clashed with the refugees on land and pushed back boats trying to reach its islands.
Turkish authorities and the media have always been on hand to provide footage but slower to help boats waiting in distress. Turkey made its announcement about allowing refugees through on Thursday night. On Friday morning its media were already in place to record the first refugees leaving and arriving in Greece.
The Greek coastguard, who have been filmed shooting in the waters near a boat, have also been filming. Their footage focuses on claims that Turkey is escorting the refugees to European waters.
In the video, you can hear the coastguard officers shouting “go back.”
They are images that suit the messages both governments want to send to their populations but give little thought to the refugees, left stuck on the water or in no man’s land.
On each of the past three days there’s been a report of an attack on refugee boats, either by Greek coastguard or by masked men who have tried to destroy their engines.
Doctors without Borders say some of the asylum seekers on the Greek island of Chios have gone three days without food because supplies are being blocked by a group of locals.
