Via MireKoc– The Turkish Refugee Council, IGAM, and Oxfam has launched an international policy consultation process to ensure that the views and perspectives of those most affected by forced migration across international borders are driving the development of international policy on refugees. You can start engaging in this process by filling out a short survey via the following links:
Via AlJazeera– Images capture living conditions the Greek island’s largest camp, home to thousands of refugees and migrants
In March 2016, the European Union and Turkey signed a controversial deal to prevent refugees and migrants from reaching Europe. As part of the agreement, the Greek government confined refugees and migrants to five islands for the duration of their asylum process. Today, it is estimated that more than 7,600 asylum seekers live on Lesbos. Continue reading Rare look at life inside Lesbos’ Moria refugee camp→
Via Hürriyet Daily News– Turkey has the largest refugee population in the world, according to a two-year study conducted by the Turkish Parliament’s Refugee Subcommittee that operates under the Human Rights Committee.
Turkey currently hosts approximately 4.3 million refugees, the report said.
Of the millions taking refuge in Turkey, 3.4 million reside in the country under Turkey’s temporary protection.
The remaining 600,000 refugees have residence permits, the report showed.
Musaferat – a collective active on Lesvos against the deportation practise – published an insightful summary of the events during the last month on Lesvos. From the unbearable living conditions in Moria, iltreatment of minor refugees, deportations and ‘voluntary returns’ and policy violence against protests.
Via euronews(Link in Turkish) –Due to intense bombardment by the Syrian army backed by Iranian and Russian forces in the Syrian cities Hama and Idlib against ISIS, tens of thousands of people abandoned their houses and reached the Turkish border since November 2017.
Via T24 (Link in Turkish) – The Mayor of the Parliamentary Sub-Commission on Refugees and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Antalya Deputy Atay Uslu said that currently 4.3 million migrants live in Turkey. 3.6 million of them are Syrians. There are 300 thousand Iraqis, Palestinians and other international protection seekers living in Turkey. Uslu pointed out that only 3 people hold a refugee status in Turkey.
Via Hurriyet Daily News – A total of three Afghan and Pakistani refugees were killed in a fire that erupted in a container they had been living in in Istanbul on Jan. 12. The fire was reportedly ignited from an electric heater. The killed refugees had been living in a container in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district and earning their living by gathering paper in the streets. Continue reading Two Afghan, one Pakistani refugee killed in container fire in Istanbul→
Via Akşam (link in Turkish) – 101 foreign people were caught in Izmir’s Dikili and Çeşme districts, while they were trying to cross into Greece.
The coast guards stopped a boat, which was detected in the district of Dikili. 71 people, including 65 Syrian and 6 Afghan nationals, were caught. Then, the coast guards moved to the Çeşme district on the notice that a group of irregular migrants was about to cross into Greece. The guard caught 30 of the Syrians who were in the boat. Continue reading 101 migrants were stopped in the Aegean Sea→
Via Al-Monitor– This past November, three bodies were found washed ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. They were later identified as a Turkish husband and wife, Huseyin and Nur Maden, and one of their three children. The Madens were teachers in Turkey, but they were among the 150,000 civil servants dismissed from their jobs after the failed coup in July 2016. Some of those dismissed tried to flee to Greece to avoid arrest or find work. More than 12,000 Turks applied for asylum in Europe for the first time in 2017, according to Eurostat. This figure is triple what it was the year preceding the failed coup and is the highest it has been in the past decade. Continue reading A new refugee flow to Europe: Turkish refugees→
Via Ekathimerini– In a bid to reduce overcrowding at migrant reception centers on the Aegean islands, the government is to propose to Turkey that asylum seekers who are not high on the list of eligibility for protection be transferred to camps on the mainland and subsequently to Turkey, Kathimerini understands.
“We are asking that we be allowed to conduct returns either directly from the islands or from the mainland in the context of the EU-Turkey joint statement,” a government official told Kathimerini, referring to a deal between Brussels and Ankara signed in March 2016 aimed at curbing migrant smuggling across the Aegean. Continue reading Athens to propose transfer of migrants to Ankara→
