ProAsyl – Yesterday night three positive decisions by the Administrative Appeals Committee of Lesbos were published. Lawyers of the PRO ASYL project “Refugee Support Program in the Aegean (RSPA)” represented nine Syrian protection seekers before the second instance on 20 and 21 April. The concerned asylum seekers were greatly relieved to receive the news that their deportation to Turkey has now been stopped. By now ten decisions by Appeals Committees have been published in which it is asserted that Turkey is no “safe third country” for Syrian refugees.

Watch the Med Alarm Phone –

For most of the past five weeks, the Alarm Phone remained largely silent. Whereas a few weeks ago we received dozens of calls from the Aegean region per week, sometimes even per day, the new deterrence measures between Greece and Turkey have resulted in fewer attempted sea crossings and the Alarm Phone was not involved in any emergency situations in this region. In the five weeks that this report covers, we witnessed a remarkable increase of crossings from Libya to Italy and were alerted to 7 cases of boats in distress at sea in the Central Mediterranean. For the first time in months, Syrians and Iraqis were amongst these cross-border travellers trying to reach Italy and in several harrowing shipwrecks hundreds of people lost their lives.

Göçmen Dayanişmasi – Pressrelease by several migrant solidarity groups on the deportation of refugees from Istanbul to the detention camp in Osmaniye.

On Tuesday, the 10th of May, at 6.00 in the morning, police and municipal police raided the homes of four Syrian families in Tarlabasi and took them away in vehicles, with their children and babies. One day later, we learned that the families were sent to a camp in Osmaniye. We have often witnessed refugees being taken from the city centers in small groups, against their will, and in house raids, to be placed in refugee camps via microbuses with tinted windows. It is also remarkable that these efforts of “sterilising” visible parts of the city centres from refugees from and “cleansing of the city images” coincide with the World Humanitarian Summit. Continue reading Do Not Touch My Neighbour – Konsuma Dokunma! →

Volkskrant – In Turkey, Syrian children refugees are put to work en masse to help supplement their family’s income. In all seven factories in the textile and shoe industry visited by de Volkskrant in the east Turkish city of Gaziantep last week, children were at work.

The Guardian – The EU-Turkey migration deal has been thrown further into chaos after an independent authority examining appeals claims in Greece ruled against sending a Syrian refugee back to Turkey, potentially creating a precedent for thousands of other similar cases. In a landmark case, the appeals committee upheld the appeal of an asylum seeker who had been one of the first Syrians listed for deportation under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal. 

In a document seen by the Guardian, a three-person appeals tribunal in Lesbos said Turkey would not give Syrian refugees the rights they were owed under international treaties and therefore overturned the applicant’s deportation order by a verdict of two to one. The case will now be re-assessed from scratch. The committee’s conclusion stated: “The committee has judged that the temporary protection which could be offered by Turkey to the applicant, as a Syrian citizen, does not offer him rights equivalent to those required by the Geneva convention.”

Hurriyet Daily News – The survey named “Turkish Foreign Policy Public Opinion Research” has concluded that 57 percent of respondents believe that Turkey’s recent deal with the European Union for the readmission of Syrian refugees was not a good one. While 21.3 percent said they did not have an opinion about the deal, 21.7 percent said they supported it.

Among those who do not approve the agreement, the majority has said they were worried about the increasing number of Syrians that are going to enter Turkey, as others have said they were concerned about the economic hardships that might be caused with their existence in the country and that the EU would not abide by the article.  

Only in Turkish: T24 – The “Göçmen Dayanışma Mutfağı” (Migrant Solidarity Kitchen) raised awareness regarding the forced deportation of refugees from their homes to the camps in Osmaniye/Southern Turkey by the turkish police. In their written call, the Solidarity Kitchen emphasizes that during the early morning operations on the 10th of May against the Syrian Refugees, 4 families, including small children, were forced into transporters. They furthermore connect the operation to the UNOs “World Humanitarian Summit”. In addition the destinated camps are not safe for women and children.

Hurriyet Daily News – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has approved a law on an agreement between Ankara and Brussels on the readmission of people residing in the EU without authorization. Erdoğan’s approval of the law was announced by his press office late on May 18, with a note that it was sent to the Prime Ministry in order to be published in the Official Gazette, thus to enter into force. As it is not published on national holidays, the Official Gazette was not published on May 19, the Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.

Only in Turkish: Ilerihaber – Before the World Humanitarian Summit, organized by the UNO, dating from 23-24 of Mai 2016 in Istanbul, turkish authorities began a cleansing of Refugees in the streets of the turkish metropole, although the summits purpose was to raise public awareness for the refugees problems.

Only in Turkish: Cumhuriyet – Istanbul police teams started operations at the early morning on the 11th of May  in the Beyoglu district at address where Syrian Refugees are living. Following the raids of Syrian were sent to refugee camps located in Osmaniye province in southern Turkey.