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.
European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn spoke at the general assembly session titled “Aid instrument for Turkey before access” held by the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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
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
Update: According to information by the Adana based association “Sığınmacı ve Göçmenler Derneği”, the two Iranians were not deported and their applications for international protection have been accepted.
Via Hurriyet Daily News – Turkish police stopped two minibuses in the southern city of Adana after they were notified that a group of refugees who illegally crossed into Turkey from the eastern province of Van planned to go to Istanbul via Adana, local media reported on June 4.
Thirty-one Afghan, 18 Pakistani and two Iranian citizens, who paid the human smugglers up to $5,000 each, were detained in the police operation after they showed fake permits, according to the reports.
Continue reading ‘Do not deport us, they will kill us,’ Iranian refugees beg Turkish authorities
Press Release by Pikpa Camp from June 1st
On Friday afternoon 25 May 2018, intense fighting broke out at Moria camp, leaving many people injured. A group of around 70 refugees, including many families with young children and several injured people, fled the violence and found refuge in a park in Mytilini. Some injured people were transferred to the hospital by ambulance. The police did not allow the group to stay in the park out of fear for racist attacks. The refugees refused to return to Moria camp stating they feared for their lives. The police insisted for the team of Pikpa to host the people in Pikpa camp that night and guaranteed that the next day the families will be transferred to Kara Tepe. The Pikpa team was determined not to allow escalation of racist and fascist attacks in town and the police transferred the people to Pikpa.
Continue reading Lesvos Emergency: Pikpa camp calls for urgent action to decongest the island
Via Ahval – A lawyer representing eight Turkish servicemen who sought asylum in Greece following the country’s 2016 failed coup says all his clients have been freed pending a ruling on their applications, U.S. Tampa Bay newspaper reported.
Continue reading Greece frees 8 Turkish soldiers seeking asylum after 2016 coup attempt
Via New York Times [abstracts] – In Turkey, the Coast Guard said that nine migrants, including six children, had drowned in an accident off the country’s Mediterranean coast.
The migrants’ boat capsized early Sunday morning near the town of Demre in the southern province of Antalya, according to the Turkish Coast Guard, which said it had recovered nine bodies and rescued four other migrants. A fifth was saved by a passing fishing vessel.
Via The Black Sea – By Zeynep Şentek and Craig Shaw.
Major European Union countries expressed disquiet at having to pay for their six billion Euro deal with Turkey to keep Syrian refugees away from the EU
Despite a significant drop in Syrian refugees entering Europe from Turkey, member states did not want to finance the mega-deal from their national coffers, and instead asked to raid pre-accession funds or divert cash from the EU budget. Continue reading Secret EU docs show conflict over cash for EU-Turkey refugee deal
Via The Black Sea – By Craig Shaw, Zeynep Şentek & Şebnem Arsu.
The ending of Europe’s refugee crisis was built on a legally dubious, three billion Euro deal between the EU and Turkey in 2016
With the recent announcement of a further three billion Euro pledged for Turkey, the existing deal is not as successful as the EU publicly states: NGOs have been harassed and fined, there is little public accountability on how money is spent, and many infrastructure projects are only just beginning
Meanwhile, despite requesting to extend the agreement, Turkey is already crafting a “counter narrative” to send refugees back to Syria.
A ‘Billions for Borders’ report for EIC Network, with additional reporting by John Hansen (Politiken), Emilie Ekeberg (Danwatch), Margherita Bettoni (The Black Sea), Hanneke Chin-A-Fo (NRC) Francesca Sironi (L’Espresso). Continue reading Raw Deal
Bulgarian Interior Minister Valentin Radev and his Turkish counterpart Süleyman Soylu met in Edirne on May 29 for a workshop on border security and co-operation, the first such workshop on the topic of its kind between the two countries.
The main focus of the talks was the efforts made by the two countries to ensure the security of the most sensitive external European border – the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, Bulgarian National Television reported.
Continue reading Bulgarian, Turkish interior ministers meet over border security and co-operation