A new "Midnight Express"

Shocking new pictures of a Turkish Coast Guard (Turk Sahil Guvenlik) boat smuggling illegal immigrants into Greek territory ,were revealed yesterday by the daily "Ethnos".The incident took place in August 19 in the vicinity of Cape Korakas located at the island of Lesvos, one of the easternmost Greek islands and raises serious questions on the role of the neighbouring country in the huge illegal immigration problem the Greek authorities are facing .

A Greek Coastguard vessel on patrol originally spotted the Turkish boat in the vicinity of Cape Korakas well inside Greek waters ,carrying an unknown number of illegal immigrants .Footage published by "Ethnos" shows a man ( a member of the crew as it seems) throwing life jackets overboard for the soon to be castaways . The Greek CG crews are often called upon to rescue large numbers of desperate illegal immigrants that are thrown overboard by the modern day slave traders at the first sight of an uproaching patrol boat . The short and costly (several thousand dollar) trip from the nearby coast does not always end with a hot cup of tea and a blanket in a Greek acceptance center as many unfortunate drown every year ,including children


The GC vessel intercepted the TGC boat ( a type Kaan 15 patrol boat) which started to perform evasive manuvuers and failed to respond to the continuing radio calls by the Greek patrol boat .The pursuit that followed lasted 15 minutes and ended with the Turkish intruder returning to Turkish territorial waters

The continuing waves of illegal immigrants have costrained the Greek Government to commence
a costly program for the construction of new acceptance facilities in the eastern borders of the country as the already existing infrastructure has proven inadeguate .It should be noted that the "Papandreou-Cem agreement" on the re-acceptance of illegal immigrants was never implemented by the Turkish side ,that refuses to cooperate . In a common effort to safeguard EU eastern sea borders and deal with a problem affecting the Union as a whole ,common patrols with other EU member vessels (Italy) have been established in the areas of Lesvos and Samos .According to government officials last year alone a total of 112.000 illegal immigrants tried to enter the country ,the large majority of which originated from the nearby coast of Asia Minor.

The Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanis issued a formal protest regarding the incident ,without any Turkish response so far

Older footage of a TCG Kaan 15 class boat performing its...daytime duties

source :
http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11424&subid=2&tag=8333&pubid=1532537
http://www.aegeantimes.gr/article.asp?id=26566&type=12
http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11378&subid=2&tag=8470&pubid=1532727