The subject we discussed this week as the Unconditional Justice Movement was the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were forcibly relocated due to violence, war, and rights abuses, as well as the rights violations they endured as a result.
- While the number of persons forcibly displaced as a result of conflict, violence, and persecution has reached new highs around the world, Turkey is one of the countries with the biggest number of refugees. In addition to the approximately 3.6 million Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR, up to 320,000 other nations of concern to the UNHCR are refugees in Turkey.
- Despite being a signatory to the “Convention Relating to the Legal Status of Refugees” and the 1967 New York Protocol, Turkey is a major violator of refugees’ human rights due to the returns it has undertaken as part of its political ties and the deplorable circumstances in detention centers.
- 4 Iranian refugees (Esmail Fattahi, Leili Faraji, Zeinab Sahafi, and Mohammed Pourakbari Kermani), who have recently been on the agenda, have also declared that they will be in danger of losing their lives and freedom if they return simply because they took part in actions related to the Istanbul Convention, but have been ordered to return. are held in the heart of the city.
- Afshin Sohrabzadeh, an Iranian refugee, is also being held in a detention center. Afshin, who indicated that he and his wife expected public assistance, stated that he was held in a solitary cell and that he was in very poor physical and mental health due to his 7-year imprisonment in Iran.
- Some Uyghur Turks who sought asylum in Turkey but were wanted by the Chinese authorities were reportedly repatriated to China via Pakistan. The actions of Uyghur Turks who are concerned about the issue and want to bring attention to it are prohibited.
- On the other hand, Turkey has been hosting more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees since 2013-14. Due of the overcrowding in Turkey’s reception centers, he established chaotic and deplorable asylum camps. Later, it pushed refugees to live in a position where they lacked basic living necessities.
- As a result of an airstrike it received beyond the border, Turkey vowed to open its gates to Syrians seeking asylum in Europe. Many Syrian migrants were transported to the Greek border by state-provided buses as part of this process. In February 2020, a human drama that lasted for days began here. Greece intervened badly at the border with numerous refugees in an attempt to prevent refugees from crossing the border. The human tragedy has exposed Turkey’s and the world’s hypocrisy when it comes to refugee issues.
As members of the unconditional justice movement, we would want to draw attention to the fact that refugees’ battle for survival in difficult circumstances, their exposure to unjustified return, and the deplorable conditions of detention institutions are still continuous human rights violations in Turkey. It is deeply concerning that Europe creates political ties with Turkey solely to create a safe haven for Syrian refugees while ignoring human rights crimes.