Push-Backs: Bulgarian-Turkish cooperation leads to more violation of human rights

Bordermonitoring Bulgaria on Push-Backs at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The Turkish prime minister, Binali Yıldırım and Borisov, met and talked about a possible bilateral agreement about “migration“ between Bulgaria and Turkey. At this weekend, another deportation of two men took place: Two suspected “Kurdish activists“ were deported from Bulgaria to Turkey.

Still, hundreds of people tried to cross the border from Turkey to Bulgaria this week. On the 14th of August 2016, the MoI made public that only within 24h they stopped 140 migrants to cross from Turkey and 13 to cross from Greece.

Turkey Offers Bulgaria Bilateral Mechanism on Migration

Novinite.com – A phone conversation has been held between Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov, at the initiative of the Turkish side, the according to the public broadcaster’s Istanbul correspondent. It was Yıldırım who proposed that the mechanism be set up to control the influx into Bulgaria.

Impressions from the no border camp in Thessaloniki

This year’s no border camp [1] took place in Thessaloniki from 15th to 24th of July. The camp was organized as a big transnational meeting of anarchists and no border activists to discuss and network but also to demonstrate and struggle together against the European border regime. In northern Greece the face of Fortress Europe becomes particularly visible.

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Start of the demonstration towards the Turkish consulate at the Kamara square in Thessaloniki (credit to Beyond Europe)

Continue reading Impressions from the no border camp in Thessaloniki

Presenting OHRFMT: Observatory for Human Rights and Forced Migrants in Turkey

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OHRFMT’s map about events in Turkey relating to human rights and forced migrants

Following the EU-Turkey statement in mid-March 2016, and the first implementations of the EU-Turkey deal on April 4th, the fate of migrants in both Turkey and the EU seemed increasingly under a vail uncertainty. As many INGO’s, institutions and local groups working in migration hotspots around Turkey condemed the deal, and questioned its legitimacy and legality, a need to collect information concerning arrivals from the EU, unlawful detention, possible breaches of human rights and much more became apparent. As a response to this need, the Observatory for Human Rights and Forced Migrants in Turkey – OHRFMT – was founded. Continue reading Presenting OHRFMT: Observatory for Human Rights and Forced Migrants in Turkey

Germany: Asylum applications of Turkish citizens rising

tagesspiegel – During the first half of 2016, almost as many asylum applications of Turkish citizens have been registered in Germany as throughout the last year. While in 2015 1.767 persons from Turkey applied for asylum, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees counted 1.719 applicants for the time from January until June 2016. Most of the applicants in 2016 have a Kurdish background. So far, the Federal office could not comment on a possible change of the situation in the aftermath of the attempted coup.

Man dies after push-back from Bulgaria

Bordermonitoring Bulgaria – Several Turkish speaking news sites (citing an article of a journalist from the Anadolou Agency) were reporting about a new victim of the European Border Regime. The 28 year old Iranian Reza Hassani was missing for about 18 days. He was found dead in the jungles of Karacadağ.

Reporting on the Turkish-EU Border Regime