The International Crisis Group published a new report on intercommunal violence between Turkish host communities and Syrian refugees in Turkey’s three largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Click here to read the whole report as PDF Continue reading Turkey’s Syrian Refugees: Defusing Metropolitan Tensions
Via AlJazeera – Refugees trying to enter Greece through its northern land border with Turkey have told Al Jazeera they have been threatened and forced to go back, illegal under international humanitarian law.
Via AlJazeera – Images capture living conditions the Greek island’s largest camp, home to thousands of refugees and migrants
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.
Continue reading ‘Musaferat’ on the last month on the prison island Lesvos
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 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
Via T24 (Link in Turkish) – It is stated that the wall built on the Iranian border will be completed in the first 6 months of 2018. The Prime Ministry Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), which has built the third longest wall in the world on the Syrian border, has completed half of the 144-kilometer wall which is being built on the Turkish-Iranian border. TOKİ Chairman Ergün Turan said that the 57,152 kilometer part of the wall was built on the border of Ağrı with the remaining 86,848 kilometers in Iğdır. Turan said that the border wall will be completed in the first 6 months of 2018.
Continue reading Half of the 144-kilometer wall built on the Turkish-Iranian border completed
Kapılar is a unique community hub in the heart of the Basmane district in Izmir, Turkey. It is a bustling social centre where people meet and organise to make friends and share skills and knowledge. As an independent organisation, they rely solely on private donations from friends and those who support our work, both in Turkey and abroad. Now, they ask for support to help continue their vital work and projects in 2018!
*** Click here to proceed to the Fundraising page *** Continue reading Social Center Kapılar in Izmir needs financial support!
Statewatch published letters about the EU-Turkey Deal that had been exchanged between the European Commission, the Turkish and the Greek government between April and July 2016!
EU-TURKEY DODGY DEAL: Letters between the Commission and the Turkish and Greek governments April-July 2016 (pdf)https://t.co/mJ5vE8P4bP
— Statewatch (@StatewatchEU) January 8, 2018
