via Yahoo – A senior Syrian opposition activist and her journalist daughter have been found dead at their apartment in Istanbul, the Dogan news agency reported on Friday.
Friends raised the alarm after being unable to reach Aroubeh Barakat and her daughter Halla Barakat by telephone, the news agency said. Turkish police then arrived at their apartment in the Uskudar district on the Asian side of Istanbul and found both women dead. Unconfirmed reports said that their throats had been cut. Continue reading Syria opposition activist, daughter found dead in Istanbul: report→
Amnesty International published a short report about deportations and forceful ‘voluntary returns’ to Syria:
Amnesty International is concerned that Turkey has become an even less safe space for refugees and asylum-seekers since the coup attempt on 15 July 2016. Safeguards against being sent to other countries where they face a risk of serious human rights violations have been drastically reduced as part of the measures adopted under the state of emergency in place following the failed coup. Continue reading Refugees at heightened risk of refoulement under Turkey’s state of emergency→
Via Amnesty International – Two Syrian refugees are at risk of being forcibly returned to Turkey after Greece’s highest administrative court rejected their final appeals against earlier rulings declaring their asylum claims inadmissible. This could set a dangerous precedent for future returns of asylum-seekers under the EU-Turkey deal, Amnesty International said.
Today’s ruling sets an ominous precedent for many other asylum-seekers who have fled conflict and persecution and are currently stranded on the Greek islands
Via Yahoo – Greece’s top administrative court on Friday approved the forced deportation of two Syrian refugees, setting a precedent for hundreds of similar cases, a justice source said. Over 750 Syrian exiles are likely to be affected by the ruling by the Greek council of state, a source with knowledge of the case told AFP.
Via Daily Sabah – A European Union-funded migrant health center has opened in the Turkish capital Ankara, the bloc’s Turkey delegation announced Wednesday.
A very recent publication named The Great Regression cites Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s name among the politicians worldwide who replace the liberal democracy with a populist authoritarianism (Geiselberger 2017: 10). The others are, as one should immediately guess: Trump of the USA, Putin of Russia, Modi of India and Orban of Hungary. In many Western and Eastern European countries, we are witnessing a gradual rise of right-wing ideologies with considerable claims to power. Continue reading Authoritarianism and Xenophobia in the New Turkey→
Via Daily Sabah* – Bulgaria has rejected the asylum requests of all Turkish citizens who entered the country through various routes in the first eight months of 2017.
According to official information obtained by Anadolu Agency, 12 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in Bulgaria for various reasons until September this year. Seven of these all-men applicants were aged between 18 and 34, while the remaining five were aged between 35 and 64.
