Greece accused of using migrant ‘mercenaries’ in pushback operations on Turkish border

Police in Greece have been recruiting migrants to violently force other migrants back across the land border with Türkiye, according to a BBC investigation published on Tuesday.

The report, done in collaboration with the Consolidated Rescue Group (CRG), alleges that so-called “mercenaries”-themselves migrants-have been deployed in the Evros border region since at least 2020 as overseen by senior officers.

Internal police documents are said to describe how the recruitment was ordered and managed.

Witness testimony gathered by investigators describes serious brutality, including migrants being stripped, robbed, beaten, and in some cases sexually assaulted.

The BBC says it was first alerted by a video showing alleged mistreatment, later corroborated through accounts from migrants, former mercenaries, police sources, and leaked transcripts.

Pushbacks-the practice of forcing migrants and asylum seekers across borders without access to asylum procedures-are widely considered illegal under international law.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the BBC that he was “totally unaware” about the alleged use of migrants for pushbacks, while authorities have not responded to written requests for comment.

Claims of violent and unofficial border operations have also been previously raised by investigative outlets including Lighthouse Reports in 2022.

One border guard told a disciplinary hearing they had information, reported to superiors, that mercenaries had been raping female migrants.

Other accounts collected by investigators include claims of extreme violence by both mercenaries and Greek police, with migrants reportedly beaten unconscious.

Greece has experienced over a million migrant arrivals since 2015, with crossings mainly via the Aegean Sea but also through the Evros River border with Türkiye, a heavily militarized zone at the edge of the EU.

A police source in the region told investigators that mercenaries are being used to push back hundreds of people each week, adding: “There is no soldier, police officer or Frontex (EU border agency) officer serving here in Evros who does not know that pushbacks are taking place.”

The BBC said the mercenaries are recruited from countries including Pakistan, Syria and Afghanistan and are allegedly rewarded with cash, stolen cellphones, and documents offering passage through Greece.