Between Ayvalik and Lesbos: Six Turks drowned during the race

16 Turks tried in vain to escape by boat to Lesbos. Six of them drowned when the boat capsized. The accident raises many questions.

By Michael Lehmann, ARD Studio Athens

Few hours after the accident, only a few details about the 16 people who wanted to escape from the Turkish city of Ayvalik by boat from the Greek side to the island of Lesvos. According to a report by the CNN television channel, they are Turkish citizens.

Six of them, including three toddlers, drowned when their boat capsized. The Turkish Coast Guard rescued nine people, one person has disappeared

Apparently, it is about supporters of Gülen

Since it is the attempt to evade the supporters of Gülen, this is the case for the Turkish police and extremely sensitive authorities. Supporters of the Gülen movement should be responsible for the coup attempt against the current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They have since been persecuted in Turkey for terrorist support.

On the Greek side, the Coast Guard does not have any other information about the disaster. The boat would have always been in Turkish waters

Bad luck facing the weather

The pbadage from Ayvalik to Lesbos is not the shortest of the Greek islands. Many refugees have chosen shorter routes north of Lesbos in recent years. However, as this place is relatively controlled on the Turkish side, the Turkish supporters of Gülen may have deliberately preferred a less prominent place but further away from Greece as a starting point for their escape attempt. Why his boat crashed seems curious. There is currently a relatively calm summer time in the Aegean Sea.

More than a week ago, a Turkish mother and three young children were killed on the border of the Evros River in northeastern Greece. She had been released from government service in Turkey and also wanted to flee to Greece with a rubber dinghy. The father of the family and other Turks were able to save themselves on the Greek coast.