On Monday, a video of Greek coastguard officers apparently attempting to capsize a boat full of refugees at sea circulated online.
In the video, which was reportedly distributed by Turkish authorities, the Greek coastguard is filmed attempting to push away - and possibly sink - a rubber boat off the coast of Turkey's Bodrum district, located only 12 miles (19.3km) from the Greek island of Kos. This was done in an inhumane attempt to block migrants from entering Greece as tensions climbed.
Thousands of people - from Syria, Afghanistan, and West Africa - have been trying to enter Greece after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced Turkey would no longer stop migrants from crossing into Europe through the Turkish-Greek border.
"The Greek coastguard officials performed maneuvers aimed at sinking the rubber boat en route to Greece carrying irregular migrants," the Turkish coastguard said in a statement, according to Middle East Eye.
Other Greek coastguard officers later fired shots towards the boat. In the video above, you can see the Greek coastguard officer, dressed in black, firing two shots from an automatic rifle into the water in the vicinity of the inflatable boat. The officer can also be seen striking the migrants with a sharp stick.
The migrants can be heard screaming as their boat sways amid rough waves caused by the larger ship and further panic as they were sandwiched between two hostile vessels.
The tensions and hostility have led to the death of a four-year-old Syrian boy who drowned off the Greek coast when a migrant boat capsized near Lesbos. However, it remains unclear if the video is related to the same incident.
It was also reported that a Syrian refugee was reportedly killed by rubber bullets when trying to cross the Greek border as well.
Erdoğan announced Turkey would no longer enforce a 2016 deal with the EU to prevent migrants from entering Europe. The Turkish president said his country could not handle another surge of refugees resulting from an escalating Syrian conflict.
According to the BBC, nearly a million Syrians have fled to the Syrian-Turkish border since December. Turkey is currently hosting 3.7 million Syrian refugees, as well as migrants from other countries.
Previously, under the EU-Turkey deal in 2016, Syrian refugees who arrived on Greek islands were sent back to Turkey. The latter country received billions of dollars in EU aid for the migrants and refugees.