Page - 203 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 1/2015

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 1 2o15 Estela Schindel | Sea border crossing to Europe 203 The trip between the two coasts takes roughly an hour and a half by ferry, an hour by catamaran and even less with a speedboat. however, the refugees I talked with in Greece would spend at least 3 or 4 hours, sometimes twice as long and even up to 12 hours on the water trying to reach Europe. Either they search for less patrolled coasts, or try to elude successive Greek and Tur- kish border ships. Without knowledge of the zone, they easily become lost. The refugee boats are seldom in good condi- tions and often must return to Turkey because of rough seas, bad weather or mechanical problems. farshid, a young Afghan refugee who, like Abbas, tried to make his way to Greece several times, once returned to the Turkish coast when the inflatable boat his group was travelling in started to leak. The traf- fickers, who were still standing on the beach, gave the travellers an air pump with which to reinflate the boat during the crossing and sent them back to the sea. farshid and a few others decided to stay on shore and the group that left, he heard later, died in the water. Numerous testimonies collected by NGOs, and several of my own interviews, refer to stories about commandos approaching migrants’ boats in military vessels, often led by masked men in uniform, that capture them on the high seas and bring them to their own ships. There, one by one, they strip the male migrants naked, beat them ferociously, steal their money and smart phones and throw their personal belongings and life jackets into the water. They reportedly break or remove the motors and the oars of the refugees’ boats or let out the gasoline. And they leave them in Turkey’s waters in this condition, sometimes alerting the Turkish authorities so that they come and res- cue them (AI 2013, Pro-Asyl 2013). Most reports published and testimonies I heard coincide on this pattern of action. Personnel of the hellenic coast Guard deny taking place in such actions, but admit to “escorting back” migrants’ boats to Turkish territorial waters and leaving them there. Greek ships entering Turkish territorial waters seem to be a common practice, recognized by most actors in the field, including officials on both sides of the border. Observers report practices like circling their dinghies making big waves in order to put them in danger. There was a case when a migrants’ boat capsized while being towed to the coast by the coast Guard Fig. 1. Remnants of a refugees’ boat and a life jacket in Cape Karakas, Lesvos Island. The moun- tains in the background are Turkish territory. Photo taken on September 22, 2013 by Estela Schindel