Hundreds demonstrate against Greece's migrant pushbacks

According to Greek police, around 700 people marched from Omonia Square at the center of Athens to Syntagma Square in front of the Greek parliament.

They carried a life raft resembling the ones allegedly used by Greek authorities to push back asylum-seekers from Greek territory, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer said.

Protesters, who gathered after a call of leftist and anti-racist groups, shouted slogans against "the assassination of migrants at the border" and held banners reading "Stop pushbacks and border violence."

In Syntagma Square they observed a minute of silence for the migrants who lost their lives.

Human rights groups believe such actions, reported by migrants in different parts of the world, are designed to discourage fleeing people from trying to enter a particular country and to look for a different route.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed last week to expose Greece allegedly illegally pushing back migrants on every occasion.

The incident also received harsh criticism by Turkey's defense and foreign ministries. Greece must immediately end its inhumane practices on land borders and at sea, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.

“The images of migrants, whose clothes, shoes, everything was taken on their journey toward holding on to life and who lost their lives as a result of this inhumane treatment, has upset everyone,” the ministry said on Twitter.

“These practices must henceforth draw the attention of the EU,” the ministry pointed out while the foreign ministry in a similar statement that "The EU keeps silent in the face of Greece’s cruel practices against irregular migrants and turns a deaf ear to our calls. We call on the international community to investigate Greece’s actions in violation of human rights and not to remain indifferent to these despicable acts."

Turkey’s interior minister said initially that 12 migrants had died after allegedly being forced back into Turkey. He said they were found near the border, “without shoes and stripped of their clothes.” One of the migrants was found alive but later died in hospital. There was no information about the migrants' nationalities.

A statement from the governor's office for the border province of Edirne said seven more bodies were found on Thursday. Anadolu Agency (AA) said gendarmerie forces were searching the area with the help of drones and that medical teams were on standby.

Recent years have seen multiple reports of Greek forces illegally pushing back boats of asylum-seekers, endangering the passengers in the process.

Turkey is a major crossing point for migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa seeking a better life in European Union countries.

Most try to cross into Greece – a key gateway to the EU for people fleeing war or poverty – by either crossing the northeastern land border or cramming into boats headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands.

Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, Erdoğan said he would bring up the issue of Greece's ill-treatment of migrants during every meeting he holds with world leaders. He also accused the European Union of not speaking out against illegal pushbacks and the EU’s border and coast guard agency, Frontex, of allegedly “supporting” Greece.

Greece’s Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi on Wednesday described the deaths as a “tragedy” but strongly denied the claim that Greek forces had pushed back the migrants, insisting that the migrants never made it to the border.

Pushbacks are considered contrary to international refugee protection agreements, which dictate that people should not be expelled or returned to a country where their life and safety might be in danger due to their race, religion, nationality or membership in a social or political group.