Category Archives: News Digest

HarekAct offers a topical and chronological collection of news on the EU-Turkish border regime under this section. We link to external newspapers and websites and do not hold the copyright.
Views and opinions expressed in the articles published on HarekAct are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of all editorial board members.

Study by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament published

The EU-Turkey Statement and the Greek Hotspots – A Failed European Pilot Project in Refugee Policy

The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament recently published a study focusing on the detrimental impact that the EU-Turkey Statement and the implementation of the “hotspot approach” in Greece is having on the rights of refugees and migrants arriving. The study finds that the current procedures and practices for processing asylum applications on the Greek islands under the EU-Turkey statement violate the applicants’ right to asylum and due process.

The study can be downloaded here.

European Commission calls for continuing Turkey-Greece migrant deal

Via Middle East Monitor – The European Commission has called for the continuation of the bilateral migrant readmission deal between Turkey and Greece.

“The commission’s position is that it should be continuously implemented in order to meet all remaining benchmarks under the visa liberalisation roadmap with Turkey,” the Commission’s spokesperson Natasha Bertaud told a press briefing Friday.

Her remarks came after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced Thursday that Ankara was suspending its bilateral migrant readmission deal with Greece.

New Monthly Report on Rights Violations and Resistance by Legal Centre Lesbos

Asylum Seekers leaving from Lesvos to Athens in early May 2018.

Via Legal Centre Lesbos – In the months since our last update on rights violations and resistance in Lesvos, our advocacy and campaigning resources were almost exclusively focused on the two trials for the Moria 35 and Moria 10 that took place in Chios in late April and early May 2018.

The situation has predictably worsened in Lesvos. Continue reading New Monthly Report on Rights Violations and Resistance by Legal Centre Lesbos

ECHR Condemns Turkey for Deporting Kazakhstan Citizen

Original Turkish Version Below

Turkey is convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for deporting two Kazakhstan citizen with asylum applications without waiting for their demands to conclude.

The court ruled that the Kazakhstan citizens’ “right to freedom and security”, “torture and ill-treatment ban”, and “effective paths to appeal/application” rights were violated by ill-treatment. Samat Amerkhanov and Arman Batyrkhairov were kept in Kumkapı Removal Center (Istanbul) under poor conditions, their asylum cases were rejected despite their claim on the risk of ill-treatment and torture at the country of origin, and on March 2012 they were deported to Khazakhstan where both of them got arrested.

ECHR issued the decision on 5th of June 2018 which requires Turkey to pay an amount of 19.175€ valued pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages to Amerkhanov and Batyrkhairov.


Türkiye, Mültecileri Sınırdışı Etmekten AİHM’de Mahkum

 

Via BIANET İki Kazakistanlıyı Kumkapı GGM koşullarında tutan ve iltica taleplerini dikkate almadan ülkelerine gönderen Türkiye, AİHM’de 19 bin 175 Euro tazminata mahkum oldu. Sınırdışı edilen iki Kazakistanlı ülkelerinde tutuklu. Continue reading ECHR Condemns Turkey for Deporting Kazakhstan Citizen

Persecuted Kurdish People in Lesvos Release Statement to Authorities.

Via #opentheislands, June 8th 2018 – The Kurdish individuals who are temporarily living in Pikpa Camp in Lesvos have released a statement demanding that Greek and European authorities protect their rights. These individuals fled war and persecution in Syria and Turkey and on 25 May 2018 they faced further violence in Moria Camp. The extreme violence they have fled and that they continue to face in Lesvos, Greece has left several injured and traumatized. Their trauma has not ended however, as Moria camp administration have this week threatened them with deportation to Turkey if they do not return to Moria Camp, which would subject them to collective expulsion and persecution in Turkey, in violation of human rights and refugee law.

Their statement and demands are found below in Greek and English.

ENG – Letter Kurdish 8 June

GREEK – Letter Kurdish 8 June

Continue reading Persecuted Kurdish People in Lesvos Release Statement to Authorities.

Seeking refuge from the hotspots: asylum seekers required to return to Moria despite concerns

Via ECRE – Following an intense conflict at the Moria hotspot, on Lesvos, Greece on 25 May 2018, which left at least 70 people injured, a group of nearly 1,000 people, including families with young children, fled the violence and sought protection in other areas of Lesbos. This led to other facilities being overcrowded despite the efforts of civil society organisations and residents. Around 600 people went to a makeshift camp in the Larsos area, while another 300 were taken to the former PIKPA children’s camps.Those who fled the violence at the Moria hotspot, which is hosting numbers three times its capacity, have been told that they will lose their food and financial allowances as well as their appointments with the asylum service if they do not return to the hotspot.

In the light of these developments, civil society organisations have reiterated their call on the Greek government to proceed with the immediate transfer of a large number of migrants to the mainland. Around 160 people who fled the recent violence at the Moria hotspot have been transported by boat to Athens and housed in tents at the Malakasa camp. However, this number is highly insufficient. According to the government, further transfers are on hold due to a lack of accommodation on the mainland.

The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament has recently published a study focusing on the detrimental impact that the EU-Turkey Statement and the implementation of the “hotspot approach” in Greece is having on the rights of refugees and migrants arriving. The study finds that that the current procedures and practices for processing asylum applications on the Greek islands under the EU-Turkey statement violate the applicants’ right to asylum and due process.

Continue reading Seeking refuge from the hotspots: asylum seekers required to return to Moria despite concerns

Turkey suspends migrant readmission deal with Greece

Via Hurriyet Daily News – Turkey has suspended the migrant readmission deal with Greece in response to a Greek court’s decision to release eight former Turkish servicemen who fled to the country one day after Turkey’s July 2016 coup attempt, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on June 6.

Asked whether Ankara is considering sanctions against Greece following the release of the eight soldiers Çavuşoğlu described the move as “unacceptable.”

Continue reading Turkey suspends migrant readmission deal with Greece

EU to Cut Financial Aid to Turkey

Via Bianet (31st May) The European Union is going to cut 40 percent in financial aids planned to be granted to Turkey. Human rights and respect for the rule of law are sought for financial aid.

Turkey’s Syrian population grows to 4.2 percent

Via Ahval – The number of Syrians registered in Turkey grew by over 600,000 between the end of 2016 and the end of 2017, making them 4.2 percent of Turkey’s population, according to figures from the country’s Directorate of Migration Management quoted by left-wing newspaper BirGün.

The figure increased from 14 thousand in 2012 to 2.8 million in 2016 and has risen again to 3.4 million in 2017.

Continue reading Turkey’s Syrian population grows to 4.2 percent

Dozens of Kurds face deportation if they don’t return to Moria camp

Via Ekathimerini  -Dozens of asylum seekers who left the Moria migrant processing center for other facilities on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos will be barred from the process if they do not return to the official camp, the Migration Ministry announced on Monday.

The case concerns 1,000 Kurds who left the squalid Moria camp last week and moved to facilities run by the municipal authority where living conditions are better. Of them, 158 have been transferred to a camp on mainland Greece, but 354 remain at a facility in the former Larso sports arena and 269 at the old PIKPA campsite.

Authorities have given these 623 Kurds until Friday to return to Moria, the official camp or hot spot for refugees and migrants, or face being ejected from the asylum process and deported to Turkey. Continue reading Dozens of Kurds face deportation if they don’t return to Moria camp