Frontex seeks answers from Greece on alleged ‘pushbacks’ of migrants

The European Union's border agency is seeking "clarifications and information" from Greece's coast guard on two alleged cases of migrants who crossed by boat being illegally deported back to Turkey, a European official said Friday.

The official said Frontex's executive director Hans Leijtens wrote to a senior police official representing Greece on the Frontex management board, requesting a reply by July 10. The agency helps patrol EU member Greece's eastern borders.

Greece's center-right government has in recent years stepped up patrols in the eastern Aegean Sea, radically reducing the numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossing in small boats from neighboring Turkey.

But Athens has been repeatedly accused of dumping migrants who enter Greek waters back inside Turkey's maritime jurisdiction without allowing them to apply for asylum - an illegal...