Featured image: Lawyers from LCL and ÇHD (Vicky Aggelidou and Nergiz Aslan) and the family of Barış Büyüksu attend a press conference in Izmir, Türkiye on 3 November 2023.
SHARED CONCERNS BY ATTORNEYS IN TÜRKIYE AND GREECE ON A DEADLY PUSHBACK: WHERE IS THE FILE OF BARIŞ BÜYÜKSU?
Barış Büyüksu, who was a citizen of the Republic of Türkiye, was found unconscious in a life raft by the Turkish Coast Guard together with 15 Palestinian migrants off the coast of Bodrum on 22 October 2022, following an apparent pushback operation by Greek authorities. Representation of the family of Barış Büyüksu has now been taken on by the Progressive Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği) and the Legal Centre Lesvos, but one year after Barış’ death, we still have no clear information on the location of the criminal file, or status of any investigation into the causes of his death. Following a press conference held on 3 November 2023 in Izmir, Türkiye, we release today a joint press release together with ÇHD, demanding justice for Barış’ family, the full text of which can be found linked below in English, Turkish, and Greek.
At this point, as Progressive Lawyers Association and Legal Centre Lesvos, we demand the following from rights defenders and the authorities:
- We urge all rights defenders in Greece and in Türkiye to join our demand for Justice for Barış. Barış is not the first migrant who lost his life due to illegal pushbacks, nor will he be the last! We call on rights defenders to stand together with us in our struggle for Justice for Barış and against pushbacks.
- We invite the press to visibilise the demand for justice for Barış’ family.
- We invite EU, Greek and Turkish Members of Parliament, institutions and ministries to locate the file of Barış, which was lost between the bureaucracies of the two countries.
- We invite the officials in Greece to immediately start an effective judicial process on Barış Büyüksu’s death!