Tag Archive for 'turkey'

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IPS News: Syrian Refugees Illegally Pushed Back

Published on November 20, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

by Apostolis Fotiadis

ATHENS, Nov 20 2013 (IPS) – Human rights groups have circulated evidence in the last few days indicating that Greece, Italy and Egypt illegally detain and push back Syrian refugees.

The reports were issued by the German refugee aid organisation Pro Asyl, Medici per i Diritti Umani – MEDU (Doctors for Human Rights – Italy), the Italian human rights lawyers Association for Legal Studies on Migration (ASGI), and Human Rights Watch
Continue reading ‘IPS News: Syrian Refugees Illegally Pushed Back’

UNHCR: Statement about report on push-backs from Greece to Turkey

Published on November 12, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , .

12 November 2013

With reference to the report issued on November 7th 2013 by the German NGO Pro-Asyl, titled “Pushed Back – Systematic human rights violations against Refugees in the Aegean Sea and the Greek-Turkish land border”, the UNHCR Regional Representative for Southern Europe, Mr. Laurens Jolles, stated the following:

UNHCR is concerned over reports of asylum seekers and migrants being forcibly returned (“push-back”) from Greece to Turkey, as published by the German NGO ‘Pro Asyl’. The numbers and scale of the alleged incidents, which reportedly also involve persons fleeing Syria, raise serious concerns.
UNHCR stresses the vital importance of permitting people to access territory to seek international protection. If practices to prevent this, which could put asylum seekers at risk, are taking place they should cease immediately. Continue reading ‘UNHCR: Statement about report on push-backs from Greece to Turkey’

Pro Asyl / New Report released: ‘Pushed back’

Published on November 9, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Pushed Back – systematic human rights violations against refugees in the aegean sea and at the greek turkish land border
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On the Greek-Turkish land border refugees are systematically refouled with brutal, shocking and systematic violations of human rights: ‘When they left us in the Turkish waters they made waves again and six of us – all men – fell into the sea. The Greeks saw that, but they didn’t help, they just left.’ PRO ASYL documents these systematic pushback in the report “Pushed Back – systematic human rights violations against refugees in the aegean sea and the greek-turkish land border”. With few exceptions, all documented pushback took place in the area of ​​operations of Frontex. PRO ASYL raises the question of the involvement of Frontex on the human rights violations and calls: Frontex must end its operations in Greece.

Download Report (in English)
Summary (in German)

Fortress Europe: 24 immigrants drown near the turkish coast

Published on August 1, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Speed boat carrying 30, sank due to unknown reasons. 24 dead retrieved from the sea, 12 rescued alive…

ISTANBUL, July 31 — A total of 24 sans papiers immigrants were found dead in the international waters of the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey after a speed boat carrying them capsized on Wednesday.

Antolian news agency first reported that 18 bodies in the sea were found by coast guard teams and then updated the number of dead to 24.

The sans papiers immigrants lost their lives Wednesday when a boat carrying them sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Ezine, a district in the northwestern province of Canakkale.

Initial reports said the immigrants were traveling to the island of Lesbos in Greece. Twelve others who were also on the boat during the accident were rescued alive.

The rescue operations are underway and accompanied by planes and helicopters belonging to the coast guards.

However, there is no detail information on the nationalities of the sans papiers immigrants and where they were from as well as their final destination.

This is the second incident in a week happening in the Aegean Sea.

Last Friday Greek Coast Guard found five bodies off the southeastern Aegean Sea island of Kos after the sinking of a boat carrying sans papiers immigrants to Greece from neighbouring Turkey.

by clandestina (in english)

see also:
CNN (in turkish)

AI: Two boat tragedies leave migrants dead and missing off Europe’s shores

Published on July 26, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Press releases

25 July 2013
Two boat tragedies leave migrants dead and missing off Europe’s shores

Separate boating incidents putting the lives of dozens of migrants at risk in the Aegean Sea today are a tragic reminder of the dangers faced by people seeking to reach Europe’s borders, Amnesty International said.
A search and rescue operation continues off the Turkish coastal city Bodrum, where a boat believed to have 13 migrants on board went missing early this morning.
Also today the Greek coastguard rescued 21 migrants who fell from a rubber boat carrying 46 people near the island of Chios. One of the migrants was unconscious when pulled out of the sea and was later pronounced dead.
“The sad truth is that we’re likely to see more tragic incidents like these as migrants and asylum-seekers flee economic hardship and conflict with the hopes of finding safety and a better life in Europe,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme. Continue reading ‘AI: Two boat tragedies leave migrants dead and missing off Europe’s shores’

AI: Frontier Europe (new report on push-backs and arbitrary detention)

Published on July 9, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The Greek government is trying to seal its borders not only through increased surveillance and the construction of a fence; but research by Amnesty International shows that those who do arrive are sometimes pushed straight back to Turkey. Those returned to Turkey under such circumstances are denied the chance to apply for asylum in Greece or explain whether they have other needs, in flagrant violation of international law.
Amnesty International’s research also shows that the way in which such push-back operations are carried out by the Greek border guard or coastguard is putting lives at risk. Several of those interviewed by Amnesty International claimed they were abandoned in the middle of the sea on unseaworthy vessels or left on the Turkish side of the land border with tied hands. …

Read the Report (in English)

159 migrants in distress at sea saved near Calabria

Published on June 16, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Yesterday the 159 migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt had started from turkey some days earlier heading towards italy when their ship got at distress at sea close to the Calabrian coast. Among them were 8 children, one newborn and four women. Four migrants had to be transferred to hospital.

proto thema (in greek)

The tortured activist whose fate tells Turkish protesters: don’t seek refuge in Greece

Published on June 8, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Bulut Yayla, a Turkish archaeology student and left-wing activist, says he travelled to Greece in April this year to escape imprisonment and torture he endured under the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Once in Athens he tried to seek asylum as a political refugee to escape an international arrest warrant issued against him after being accused of having links with an outlawed Marxist organisation.

On 30 May, Bulut, 26, left the restaurant where he worked, in the central Athens neighbourhood of Exarhia, to meet some friends He never made it. At around 9pm, witnesses say they saw five men beating him near the restaurant, forcing him into a car and driving off. Two days later, his family got a call from Turkish authorities, informing them he was in their custody, in a high-security prison. The head of Greek police later confirmed the car’s licence plates showed it was a police vehicle.

“He was seized, handcuffed and shoved by force in a car where they closed his eyes, nose and mouth, and tortured him,”

Continue reading ‘The tortured activist whose fate tells Turkish protesters: don’t seek refuge in Greece’

Refugee boat sinks in Aegean Sea: 1 dead, 5 missing

Published on June 7, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

A refugee boat has sunk in the Aegean Sea off Ayvalık, leaving an Afghan refugee dead and five others missing.

The deceased refugee was identified as 45-year-old Vahide Selami.

Nine refugees were reportedly rescued after the incident.

The boat was cruising south from Çıplak Island (Chalkis, Cimno) in the northwestern province of Balıkesir at 5 a.m. before sinking due to an unknown reason.

Coast guard rescue teams are continuing their work to find the missing five.

daily news (in engllish)

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING THE CASE OF THE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF BULUT YAYLA

Published on June 2, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Athens, 2.6.2013

On Thursday 30.05.2013 at 9.30pm, Bulut Yayla, a 24 years old, Turkish political refugee was detained, beaten and violently abducted by people aboard a private car at the center of Athens – Greece.
Through eyewitness testimonies and research conducted by the victim’s comrades and lawyers, it was revealed that the license plate of the car in question belongs to the Greek Police. However, the police still claim they have nothing to do with the incident, despite the persistent and constant allegations of his comrades, lawyers and political actors.
Yesterday 01.06.2013, Bulut Yayla’s family announced that he is kept in custody at Istanbul’s Antiterrorist Unit. According to the victim’s allegations, a group of people speaking Greek, pushed him inside a car, using extreme violence, shutting his mouth and eyes. Then he was transferred by another car by a second group of people speaking Greek and Turkish and then a third group who spoke Turkish and English. Continue reading ‘URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING THE CASE OF THE ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF BULUT YAYLA’