Via Ekathimerini – Seventeen Turkish citizens landed on the shores of the Greek island of Oinousses in the eastern Aegean on Monday afternoon and requested asylum, the country’s coast guard has announced.
The majority are said to be civil servants and the group has been transferred to the Vial migrant center on Chios, where they will be registered and processed. Continue reading Turks land on Greece’s Oinousses island, request asylum
taz.gazete published a reportage on Turkish citizens fleeing their country: Kurds, political activists, dismissed academics, people who are being acused of having ties to the coup attempt because of their membership in the Gülen movement, war objectors… For many, the first point of their flight is Greece. taz.gazete reports in German and Turkish on life for Turkish refugees in Greece.
Via Al-Monitor – This past November, three bodies were found washed ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. They were later identified as a Turkish husband and wife, Huseyin and Nur Maden, and one of their three children. The Madens were teachers in Turkey, but they were among the 150,000 civil servants dismissed from their jobs after the failed coup in July 2016. Some of those dismissed tried to flee to Greece to avoid arrest or find work. More than 12,000 Turks applied for asylum in Europe for the first time in 2017, according to Eurostat. This figure is triple what it was the year preceding the failed coup and is the highest it has been in the past decade. Continue reading A new refugee flow to Europe: Turkish refugees
Via Ekathimerini – An administrative court on Monday issued an order to temporarily freeze a decision to grant asylum to one of eight Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece after a failed Turkish coup in 2016 with the case to be heard next month. Meanwhile, following a decision by the Greek Police’s immigration unit, the serviceman is to remain in custody until a final decision is issued on his asylum.
The court on Monday accepted an appeal by the Greek state to suspend the ruling which was issued last month by a tribunal. In accordance with the temporary ruling, the serviceman is banned from leaving the country. Continue reading Court freezes decision to grant asylum to Turkish serviceman
Via Die Welt (Link in German) – A Turkish soldier who fled to Greece after the failed coup attempt in mid-2016 has received asylum. As reported on Saturday from legal circles, it is the copilot of a helicopter, which landed on 16 July 2016 with a total of eight Turkish soldiers in the northern Greek border town of Alexandropoulis. After sharp criticism from Ankara, the Greek government requested a cancellation of the asylum decision in the late evening. Continue reading Greece gives asylum to fled Turkish soldier
Via Balkan Insights – Serbia has extradited a Kurdish activist, Cevdet Ayaz, to Turkey, despite the UN Committee Against Torture saying Serbia should not forcibly remove him until procedures before this body ended.
“His brother called me this morning from Istanbul and told me he got information from the police station that Ayaz was extradited,” his lawyer, Ana Trkulja, said on Tuesday. Continue reading Serbia Ignores UN and Extradites Kurd to Turkey
Via Ekathimerini – A group of 32 Turkish citizens who reached Chios island on the weekend are expected to apply for political asylum in Greece, Kathimerini understands.
All state workers or teachers, the Turks claimed they feared persecution in their country, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a purge of the civil service and armed forces after a failed coup in 2016. Continue reading Group of 32 Turkish civilians set to seek political asylum in Greece
Via The Turkey Purge – A former police chief, identified as E.S., was detained along with his wife and two children while they were allegedly escaping to Greece. Former vice president of the intelligence department at Eskisehir Police Headquarters, E.S. and his family were stopped by gendarmerie in Edirne’s Ipsala district. Continue reading Former police officer, wife, 2 children detained near Greek border
Via The Turkey Purge – Eleven Turkish folk dancers have reportedly sought asylum in Hungary after attending a dance contest in the country, Doğan News Agency reported on Dec. 5.
A group of 16 dancers from the Ankara Kent Child and Youth Folk Dances Association reportedly left Turkey several days ago in order to participate in a folk dance contest in Budapest titled “Farewell to Summer” between Nov. 5 and Nov. 10. Continue reading Turkey’s national folk dancers seek asylum in Hungary after attending dance contest
The German-Turkish online newspaper ‘Deutsch-Türkisches Journal’ (DTJ) reports (in German) that the Maden family, who lost their lives in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach safety in Greece, attempted to crossing by themselves. The family did not have enough money to pay a smuggler, so with their last funds and some borrowed money, Hüseyin Maden bought a small boat and decided to steer the boat himself to the Greek island of Lesvos. Continue reading Turkish Family who died in the Aegean, attempted crossing by themselves