All posts by harekact

Post-deportation risks under the EU-Turkey statement : what happens after readmission to Turkey?

In the frame of a research project coordinated by the University of Utrecht on the impact of the EU-Turkey Statement for refugees in Turkey and Greece a new policy paper was published! This part focuses on the situation for refugees once returned to Turkey:

“This policy brief examines whether asylum seekers readmitted from Greece to Turkey after the EU-Turkey Statement as of April 2016 were able to access effective protection in Turkey thereafter. The EU has long collaborated with countries of origin and transit in the form of migration compacts, readmission agreements and Memoranda of Understanding. The EU-Turkey Statement is different from prior forms of agreements because of the use of the safe-third-country concept. As a result, Greece can reject asylum applications of people who passed through Turkey as being inadmissible and shift the responsibility of merit assessments to Turkey.”

Proceed to the paper here

“We are not looking for providing jobs at home. We are aiming to create a safe environment or safe jobs outside of our houses.”

Syrian Women’s multiple burden at the labour market and at home.

by Rejane Herwig

Often imagined to be Syrian women’s only profession in Turkey: sewing at home.

The living conditions of Syrians in Turkey are for a majority very poor and tend to have a negative effect on a psychological as well as a physical level. Looking at those through a gender lens renders visible that such circumstances often have even more severe effects on women. Continue reading “We are not looking for providing jobs at home. We are aiming to create a safe environment or safe jobs outside of our houses.”

The Memories of the Dead will not be erased with Black Paint

Via W2EU – In the night of the 24th of November 2017, by the harbour of Thermi on Lesvos Island, unidentified persons vandalised the memorial that we had erected there in 2013. It carries the names of those who had drowned on their journeys to Europe. Two wooden paddles hold the plaque with the names of the dead and the memorial looks out to the sea, dedicated to those of all ages and backgrounds, whose lives ended at sea. Continue reading The Memories of the Dead will not be erased with Black Paint

Migrant solidarity network on the resistance of saya-workers across Turkey

Via Migrant Solidarity Network – There has been news coming related to the strikes of saya (shoe-upper) workers from all corners of Turkey since more than a month. Saya workers organized boycotts and strikes in many cities from Konya to Manisa, from İzmir to Adana and from İstanbul to Antep because of following reasons: Non-covered employment without job security, bad working conditions and long working hours and ill-payments etc. Continue reading Migrant solidarity network on the resistance of saya-workers across Turkey

Memorial to drowned refugees vandalised on Greek island

Via Middle East Eye – Vandals have damaged a memorial on the Greek island of Lesbos to refugees who lost their lives trying to reach safety in Europe, rights groups said on Thursday.

Black paint was poured on the memorial, which was erected in 2013 on the east coast of Lesbos after 20 refugees drowned trying to reach the island in the winter of 2012. In 2015, hundreds more would die in the Aegean Sea as over a million people – mainly fleeing the Syrian civil war – crossed to Greece from Turkey.

“One can only wonder what the perpetrators were thinking of, insulting the memory of people who were so unjustly lost”

– Iva Vougiouka-Frangou, head of local support group Continue reading Memorial to drowned refugees vandalised on Greek island

4 die as car crammed with migrants dives off cliff in Greece

via Associated Press / Washington Post – Four people died during a police chase in northern Greece when an overcrowded smuggler’s car carrying eight migrants, including two in the trunk, plunged off a 90-foot cliff, authorities said Wednesday.

Health officials said the other four migrants and the Pakistani driver of the car were injured in the accident late Tuesday near the town of Kavala, east of Thessaloniki. Continue reading 4 die as car crammed with migrants dives off cliff in Greece

Two men, believed migrants, killed in Greece

Via Ekathimerini  – Greek authorities say two people believed to be migrants who crossed the border from Turkey illegally have been killed after being hit by a passenger train in northeastern Greece.

Police said Monday the two were hit in the Evros border region Sunday night by a train traveling between the city of Alexandroupolis and Dikaia. Their nationalities were not immediately known. Continue reading Two men, believed migrants, killed in Greece

Romania: coastguard rescues 66 migrants on ship in Black Sea

Via Star Tribune – Romania’s coastguard on Tuesday rescued 66 migrants, including dozens of children, aboard a Turkish ship on the Black Sea after the vessel issued a distress signal.

A statement said the ship reported engine trouble early Tuesday as it was being battered by high winds in rough waters some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Black Sea coast, and asked Romanian authorities and a commercial ship in the area for help. Continue reading Romania: coastguard rescues 66 migrants on ship in Black Sea

Police rescue 57 chained Pakistani migrants bound for Europe in Istanbul

Turkey’s state run news agency Anadolu Agency reports that the anti-migrant smuggling police freed 57 Pakistani migrants in Istanbul. They were being held chained in their hands and feet in a basement of a building in Istanbul’s Arnavutköy district, apparently bound for Europe. The police arrest three suspected smugglers, also nationals from Pakistan. According to Arab News, some of the migrants had been tortured.

According to the police, the migrants had paid a total of 10.000 € to the smugglers to be brought to Greece and Italy, but that didnt happen:

“They were then chained and forced to tell their families that they had arrived Europe in order to receive codes for an alternative “Hawala” two-factor verification payment system, Doğan News Agency reported.”

Now, after being ‘rescued‘ by the police, the 57 migrants – who escaped Pakistan, and were in Turkey to continue they were towards Europe – will be deported to Pakistan! So instead of offering safety after what they have been through, the state decides to deport them, probably into another situation of high insecurity.

The three suspected organizers will be referred to court following questioning at the police headquarters.


The article was originally published by Hurriyet Daily News

257 undocumented migrants held across Turkey

Via Anadolu Agency* – At least 98 undocumented migrants were held by security forces across Turkey on Wednesday, according to officials.

In the southern province of Adana, 72 undocumented foreigners including 25 Afghan, 22 Pakistani, 20 Syrian, three Bangladeshi and two Nigerian nationals, were held by the police, a security source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media… Continue reading 257 undocumented migrants held across Turkey