Six irregular migrants, including two babies and three children, lost their lives on Tuesday when Greek forces pushed them back to Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean, said the Turkish Interior Ministry.

The Turkish Coast Guard found the lifeless bodies of six irregular migrants, including one woman, and rescued 66 migrants on four life rafts off the coast of Marmaris, the ministry said in a written statement.

The rescued migrants told Turkish Coast Guard officials that they were pushed back to Turkish territorial waters by Greek forces while they were traveling on four life rafts.

Turkish Coastal Guard units were immediately dispatched to the scene with a helicopter, a coast guard aircraft, and a coast guard boat.

Thanks to their rescue efforts, 66 migrants were rescued, it said.

Seven of those rescued were holding on to a semi-submerged life raft, but the dead bodies of six irregular migrants, including one woman, two babies, and three children, were also retrieved, it added.

Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing asylum seekers back into Turkish waters and denying them entry to Greece, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

Türkiye has been a key transit point for asylum seekers wanting to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

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