I thought long and hard before I retweeted the photo of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi. It shows the lifeless toddler, lying face down on a popular Turkish beach, one of eleven Syrians who have almost certainly died as they tried to reach safety in Europe by boarding a smuggler’s boat. Instead they ended up as the latest victims of Europe’s paltry response in the face of a growing crisis.
A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of a migrant child after a number of migrants died when boats carrying them capsized near the Turkish resort of Bodrum.
What struck me the most were his little sneakers, certainly lovingly put on by his parents that morning as they dressed him for their dangerous journey. One of my favorite moments of the morning is dressing my kids and helping them put on their shoes. They always seem to manage to put something on backwards, to our mutual amusement. Staring at the image, I couldn’t help imagine that it was one of my own sons lying there drowned on the beach.
I am currently in Hungary, documenting the journeys of Syrian refugees, the very journey that today took another young life. It’s easy to blame the parents for exposing their son to such deadly danger, but only if you forget the barrel bombs and Islamic State (also known as ISIS) beheadings that they are fleeing. All morning yesterday at the Serbian-Hungarian border, I saw Syrian parents determinedly walking with their children – trying to remove them from the horrors of the slaughter in Syria, which have been allowed to continue for four years, and to the promise of security in Europe. Those parents are heroes; I admire their sheer determination to bring their children to a better life.
Sadly, all along the journey, they are faced with hurdles and hostility. Some smugglers are so organized they even give receipts for their criminal business, but they care little for the lives of those they transport and make fortunes from. Their brutality may be expected, but what is inexcusable is the indifference and obstacles placed in their path by Europe’s leaders.
Almost every Syrian I have interviewed has had a close brush with death on their journey, often involving sinking boats. Now, in Hungary, they find their path blocked again, with thousands made to sleep in the streets without any help from the Hungarian authorities.
My notebooks are full of tragedy. Ali Pintar, a Syrian Kurd, fled with his three children after ISIS tried to take control of his hometown of Qamishli by sending suicide car bombs into the town. He has his train tickets to Munich, but police are preventing him from even entering the train station, so he has been sleeping rough for the last three nights with his children. He is utterly dejected, telling me of the humiliation he has faced: “It would have been better to stay in Syria. There, you only die once when there is an explosion or something. Here, I feel like I die a thousand deaths each day.”
Some say the picture is too offensive to share online or print in our newspapers. But what I find offensive is that drowned children are washing up on our shorelines, when more could have been done to prevent their deaths.
It was not an easy decision to share a brutal image of a drowned child. But I care about these children as much as my own. Maybe if Europe’s leaders did too, they would try to stem this ghastly spectacle.
(Istanbul) – Turkish police have engaged in severe ill-treatment and abuse of detainees while responding to perceived security threats in the southeastern part of the country, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch documented three cases in which men were severely beaten, kicked, forced to remain in kneeling positions for hours, and threatened with torture and execution. In another case, police detained a boy who had a severe gunshot wound and denied him the medical treatment he needed.
“It’s deeply worrying that police in Turkey’s southeast seem to be returning to abusive tactics in response to the security threats,” said Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia division deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible, and ensure that people in custody are protected from ill-treatment and have prompt access to proper medical treatment.”
Human Rights Watch made repeated efforts to discuss these cases with both the governor of Şırnak province and the district governor of Silopi, but has received no response.
Torture and extrajudicial killings were serious problems in the predominantly Kurdish southeast during the height of the conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the 1990s. Despite legal reforms since 2005 aimed at improving safeguards against ill-treatment and legal representation for those in detention, Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented police violence and the lack of accountability for police officers committing such abuses.
Renewed conflict between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militia has risen to worrying levels. The Turkish government, in a response to attacks attributed to the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and the PKK near the border with Syria, has conducted massive counterterrorism raids across the country, blocking websites, and banning and dispersing protests.
The three men who described abuse in police custody were detained during an August 7, 2015 security operation in the predominantly Kurdish town of Silopi, near the Iraqi Kurdistan border, where members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, had dug trenches and erected barricades to keep the police from entering the Başak neighborhood. According to the Human Rights Association (Insan Hakları Derneği, IHD), 4 people were killed in the ensuing clashes between Kurdish militants and the police, including 1 policeman, while 15 others, including at least 1 child, were wounded by gunfire.
The three men were taken into police custody in front of a hospital on suspicion of being PKK members after they drove family members and neighbors there for treatment from injuries during the armed clashes. Six other men were also arrested at the hospital that day. The three men interviewed said they were beaten during their arrest, and on the way to and at the police station, with rifle butts, fire extinguishers, chains, batons, and brass knuckles, and threatened with further abuse and death.
The three men told Human Rights Watch that police refused to take them to a hospital for treatment of their injuries. They said that a doctor was brought to the police station, but he did not examine them and instead signed a pre-drafted statement that made no mention of the ill-treatment of the detainees.
All of the nine men have since been released, and a criminal investigation has been opened against them.
In another case, police denied adequate medical treatment to a seriously wounded 17-year-old boy who was taken into police custody in the town of Cizre during armed clashes between security forces and the YDG-H on July 30. The Cizre district governor told Human Rights Watch that the boy was shot while fighting alongside the YDG-H. His mother denied it and said he was shot in both cheeks while on the balcony of the family home.
Relatives took him to the hospital, where police detained him. His mother said the police took him to another hospital in Elazığ, 400 kilometers away, and prevented her from accompanying him. The doctor in Elazığ certified him fit for interrogation even though he could not speak, said his lawyer, who had a copy of the medical report.
His lawyer said that he was still in severe pain and unable to speak when he was interrogated first by a prosecutor and later in the presence of a judge, who ordered his arrest. The lawyer said that the boy lost 90 percent of his eyesight in his left eye due to the lack of treatment and that doctors refused to perform surgery, though he was unaware of the reasons.
The boy is currently in pretrial detention in the adult division of Şırnak prison, on suspicion of being a member of the YDG-H. His lawyer said that he is receiving medical treatment, but that it is inadequate.
Turkey is party to both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibit inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. Turkey has strict obligations to protect the rights to life, bodily integrity, and security, and as part of those obligations, medical treatment must be provided promptly to anyone who is injured when arrested.
In a previous case, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of violating its obligations when it failed to provide prompt and appropriate medical treatment to a person who had been detained allegedly on suspicion of PKK membership, and who had visible injuries to his head and evident difficulties in walking and talking.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Turkey is a party, as well as the ICCPR, require that children be held separate from adults in detention, and the CRC specifies that “every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”
The Turkish authorities should ensure that its policing and security operations comply fully with human rights law, that police officers who violate fundamental rights and freedoms are held accountable, and that acts of torture and ill-treatment are investigated and prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said.
“No one should be denied access to proper medical treatment, no matter the accusations against them,” Ward said. “The Turkish authorities should make sure that people in police custody and prison are getting the medical care they need.”
For detailed accounts from the detainees, please see below.
One of the men arrested in Silopi on August 7 said:
We were at home when we heard the sounds of gunfire outside. When I looked outside, I saw that [name withheld] was injured, so I took [that person] to the hospital. When we got to the hospital [the police] surrounded us, and forced us to lie face down on the ground. They started to beat us; they beat even those who were injured. Then they put us into a police bus; they just threw all of us on top of each other. They called us “Öcalan’s dogs” and started to beat us very badly. We were taken to the police station….
I was dragged along the corridor of the station by my t-shirt, then they lined us up in the corridor on our knees, facing the wall. We had to stay like this for about six hours. During that time they continued to beat us with their rifles, a fire extinguisher, and other objects. I lost consciousness at some point. [After I started to come round] they said: “If that dog is dead, let’s throw [his body] back into the neighborhood.” I screamed and swore that I was innocent, that I did not do anything, but they did not listen. But they said: “You are not a Muslim, stop swearing on the Koran and in God’s name.”
The second man said:
I was taking an injured neighbor to the hospital. That was around 7 a.m. and I had been on my way to work then, but I saw this injured [man] and wanted to help. Isn’t that my duty as a human being? When we drove up to the gate of the emergency entrance, several … policemen stopped us at gunpoint, and threatened us. They made us get out of the car.
We had to lie down on the ground and they started insulting us.… They also beat us, for at least 10 minutes, then they put us into a [police vehicle] and drove us to the police station. When we arrived there, all the policemen at the station tried to hit us, even the officer in the security booth came running out to join the beating. I could feel that my ribs were broken. They used their rifles and their rifle butts to hit us. They called us “Jews” and “Armenians,” they swore at us, they were like mad. They took us down in the basement of the police station, and every time an officer came down he beat us. One officer forced the barrel of his rifle into my mouth and told me to recite the Shahada [the Muslim profession of faith]. He broke one of my teeth.
The third man said:
I was at home when I heard the sound of gunfire and explosion outside. We were very afraid. Then [someone] got hit by a bullet, and I wanted to take [that person] to the hospital. We were taken into custody at the hospital entrance and taken to the police station. We were beaten again and again. They threatened to use pliers to pull out our teeth. They said in front of us: “Let’s get some cables, let’s use electricity on them.”
While we were in the prison cell in the police station, we did not get any water or food. In the end we drank the water from the toilet in the cell, because we were thirsty. We were in police custody from 7 a.m. to midnight. They brought in a doctor, just a regular family doctor, and I think he was afraid to ask questions or really examine us and ask what had happened. They forced him to just sign some paper pretending that we were all fine.
Realmente medité mucho antes de retuitear la fotografía. En la imagen se ve el cuerpo sin vida de un niño pequeño, boca abajo, en una conocida playa de Turquía. Es una de las 11 personas sirias que, casi seguramente, murieron mientras intentaban llegar a la seguridad de Europa, trasladándose en la embarcación de un contrabandista. En cambio, se convirtieron en las víctimas más recientes de la insignificante respuesta europea ante una crisis que se agrava.
Un policía paramilitar lleva el cuerpo sin vida de un niño migrante, luego de que varios migrantes fallecieran cuando las embarcaciones que los transportaban zozobraron cerca de la localidad balnearia de Bodrum, en Turquía.
Lo que más me dejó perplejo fueron sus minúsculos zapatos deportivos, seguramente puestos afectuosamente por sus padres esa misma mañana, cuando lo vistieron para el peligroso trayecto. Para mí, uno de los momentos más gratificantes de la mañana es cuando visto a mis hijos y los ayudo a calzarse. Siempre logran ponerse algo al revés, para diversión tanto de ellos como mía. Ante la fotografía, no pude evitar imaginar que era uno de mis propios hijos el que estaba tendido allí, ahogado, en la playa.
Me encuentro actualmente en Hungría, documentando el trayecto que recorren los refugiados sirios, el mismo viaje que hoy mismo se cobró otra joven vida. Es fácil culpar a los padres por haber expuesto a su hijo a un peligro tan extremo, pero solo si olvidamos las bombas de barril y las decapitaciones perpetradas por Estado Islámico (también llamado ISIS), de las cuales están huyendo. Durante toda la mañana de ayer, en la frontera entre Serbia y Hungría, pude ver a padres sirios caminando con determinación junto a sus hijos, intentando sacarlos del horror de las matanzas en Siria — que se ha permitido que continuaran durante cuatro años— y llevarlos hacia la promesa de seguridad en Europa. Esos padres son héroes, y admiro la firme decisión con la cual traen a sus hijos a una vida mejor.
Lamentablemente, a lo largo del viaje, enfrentan obstáculos y hostilidades. Algunos contrabandistas están tan organizados que incluso entregan recibos a quienes contratan sus servicios clandestinos, pero tienen poco interés por las vidas de aquellos a los que transportan, y a costa de quienes se enriquecen. Si bien es esperable que actúen de manera inhumana, lo que no es admisible es la indiferencia y los obstáculos que interponen en su camino los líderes europeos.
Casi todas las personas sirias que he entrevistado estuvieron próximas a perder la vida en el trayecto, y en muchos casos sus embarcaciones se hundieron. Ahora, en Hungría, nuevamente encuentran barreras en su camino, y miles son obligados a dormir en las calles sin ninguna asistencia de las autoridades húngaras.
Mis anotaciones son un repertorio de tragedias. Ali Pintar, un hombre sirio-kurdo, huyó con sus tres hijos luego de que ISIS intentara tomar el control de su localidad, Qamishli, organizando atentados suicida con coches bomba. Ya consiguió los pasajes de tren para Múnich, pero la policía impide incluso que ingrese a la estación, y por ello ha estado durmiendo a la intemperie con sus hijos las tres últimas noches. Absolutamente abatido, me relata las humillaciones que vivió: “Habría sido mejor quedarnos en Siria. Allí, mueres una sola vez, cuando hay una explosión o sucede algo. Aquí, siento que muero miles de veces cada día”.
Algunos afirman que la fotografía es demasiado agraviante para ser publicada en línea o impresa en nuestros periódicos. Pero lo que yo considero agraviante es que las aguas estén arrastrando hasta nuestras costas los cuerpos de niños ahogados, cuando se podría haber hecho mucho más por evitar que mueran.
Compartir la imagen atroz de un niño ahogado no fue una decisión fácil. Pero estos niños son tan importantes para mí como los míos. Tal vez, si también lo fueran para los líderes europeos, intentarían actuar para que este deplorable espectáculo no vuelva a repetirse.
(Brussels) – La respuesta a la crisis de refugiados acordada por los ministros de interior de la Unión Europea el 14 de septiembre de 2015 se orienta, mayormente, a trasladar la responsabilidad a países fuera de la UE, señaló hoy Human Rights Watch.
Los ministros no alcanzaron un consenso sobre una propuesta de distribución obligatoria de solicitantes de asilo ni otras medidas para proteger a estas personas dentro de la UE, y mantuvieron la postura de privilegiar los retornos sumarios y combatir las redes de contrabandistas. En vez de consensuar nuevas medidas concretas para compartir la responsabilidad por los refugiados, la reunión extraordinaria del Consejo de Justicia y Asuntos de Interior de la UE que tuvo lugar el 14 de septiembre se enfocó en la asistencia a países fuera de la UE.
“De cara a la mayor crisis de refugiados que ha enfrentado Europa desde el colapso de Yugoslavia, el único punto en el cual consiguen ponerse de acuerdo los gobiernos de la UE es en traspasar la responsabilidad a países fuera de la Unión”, observó Judith Sunderland, directora asociada para Europa y Asia Central de Human Rights Watch. “Se supone que la UE cuenta con un Sistema Europeo Común de Asilo; sin embargo, los gobiernos de la UE ni siquiera pueden ponerse de acuerdo sobre cómo repartir la responsabilidad para hacerse cargo de quienes necesitan ser acogidos como refugiados”.
Los ministros de interior no pudieron convenir una distribución obligatoria de solicitantes de asilo entre los países de la UE. Aprobaron formalmente un programa voluntario (que ya había sido previamente acordado) para reubicar a 40.000 solicitantes de asilo que están en Italia y Grecia durante los dos próximos años —si bien los compromisos están lejos de esta meta—, pero postergaron acciones concretas con respecto a un mecanismo obligatorio propuesto recientemente por la Comisión Europea para reubicar a otros 120.000 solicitantes de asilo que están en países de la UE con fuerte afluencia de personas. ACNUR, la agencia de las Naciones Unidas para los refugiados, ha sugerido que 200.000 sería una cifra inicial más acorde con la realidad.
Un aspecto central del programa de reubicación aprobado es la creación de los denominados ‘hotspots’ (centros de recepción) en Italia y Grecia, en donde se efectuaría el registro de las personas y se tomarían sus huellas dactilares, y se determinaría quiénes son solicitantes de asilo y quiénes son inmigrantes indocumentados que podrían ser expulsados. Estos centros parecen haber sido diseñados como lugares de acogida hasta que se disponga la reubicación, y como centros de detención para quienes van a ser deportados.
Considerando el énfasis puesto en evitar el ulterior desplazamiento de solicitantes de asilo, preocupa la posibilidad de que los planes los ‘hotspots’ permitan que los solicitantes queden alcanzados por procedimientos de asilo acelerados o permanezcan detenidos durante meses, señaló Human Rights Watch. Los países de la UE tienen derecho a devolver a su país de origen a personas que no tengan pretensiones genuinas de protección, y adoptar medidas para asegurar su deportación, incluida la detención, siempre que existan garantías procesales adecuadas.
“En principio, la propuesta sobre los ‘hotspots’ podría ayudar a hacer frente a la situación, pero todo dependerá de las condiciones, el trato, los procedimientos aplicables y los compromisos en materia de reubicación”, opinó Sunderland. “De lo contrario, mantener detenidos a solicitantes de asilo hasta que algún gobierno de la UE acepte recibirlos podría conllevar la detención masiva de personas por largos períodos”.
Los ministros del interior también apoyaron un plan para confeccionar una lista europea de “países de origen seguros”, que abarcaría, como mínimo, a los Balcanes occidentales, incluidos Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, la Antigua República Yugoslava de Macedonia, Albania y Montenegro. Turquía, cuya incorporación a la lista se debatió en un principio, finalmente no fue incluida. Esto implica que las solicitudes de asilo de ciudadanos de estos países tramitarían por mecanismos acelerados, en los cuales existiría la presunción de que no necesitan protección internacional. Lo que preocupa de esta postura es el riesgo de que los pedidos de asilo no se analicen detenidamente, y que se restrinja el derecho a apelar las decisiones, a causa de lo cual podría suceder que personas que efectivamente necesitan protección sean enviadas de regreso a contextos donde podrían sufrir torturas o amenazas a su vida o sus libertades, expresó Human Rights Watch.
Los ministros ratificaron acertadamente la necesidad de prestar mayor asistencia a la agencia de la ONU para los refugiados y a los países que limitan con Siria para mejorar las condiciones de acogida de refugiados sirios, que en su gran mayoría permanecen en la región. La acción de socorro de la ONU para los refugiados sirios en la región cuenta con fondos muy inferiores a los necesarios.
Los ministros acordaron incrementar la ayuda para sistemas de asilo y acogida en países fuera de la UE, como los Balcanes occidentales, Turquía y otras regiones afectadas. La finalidad sería brindar “perspectivas a largo plazo y procedimientos adecuados para los refugiados y sus familias hasta que el regreso a su país de origen sea posible”.
Reforzar las capacidades existentes es, sin duda, una medida valiosa. Sin embargo, hasta tanto los países de tránsito puedan evaluar los pedidos de asilo respetando los estándares y procedimientos de la UE, y ofrecer condiciones dignas de acogida y medidas de protección efectivas, la asistencia destinada al desarrollo de capacidades no debería ser usada como justificación para regresar a solicitantes de asilo en la UE a países de tránsito y limítrofes, opinó Human Rights Watch.
Los ministros de relaciones exteriores de la UE también anunciaron el 14 de septiembre que EUNavFor, la misión militar de la UE en el Mediterráneo, pasaría a la etapa 2 de sus operaciones a partir de mediados de octubre. Se autorizará a buques de la UE a subir a bordo de embarcaciones utilizadas por contrabandistas, confiscarlas y destruirlas. Deben tomarse todos los recaudos necesarios para asegurar que estas operaciones no pongan en riesgo la vida y la seguridad de los inmigrantes y solicitantes de asilo, observó Human Rights Watch.
Las reuniones se celebraron luego de que Alemania, Austria, Eslovaquia y los Países Bajos —todos países en el espacio Schengen de libre circulación— restablecieron los controles fronterizos en forma provisoria. Hungría estableció un nuevo régimen fronterizo que incluye un vallado en la frontera con Serbia, la criminalización del ingreso ilegal y la designación de Serbia —acordada previamente— como tercer país seguro, lo cual suscita el temor de que Hungría detenga y devuelva de manera sumaria a numerosos solicitantes de asilo e inmigrantes que ingresan al país desde Serbia. En Serbia, Human Rights Watch ha documentado abusos policiales contra inmigrantes y solicitantes de asilo, así como dificultades en el acceso a procedimientos de asilo. El derecho a controlar las fronteras debe ser ejercido de un modo que respete el derecho a solicitar asilo y proteja a solicitantes de asilo e inmigrantes de la posibilidad de violaciones de derechos humanos, explicó Human Rights Watch.
Según la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones, más de 430.000 solicitantes de asilo e inmigrantes llegaron a la UE en lo que va del año, y más de 2.700 habrían muerto o desaparecido en el intento. En la tragedia más reciente, 34 personas, incluidos 15 niños, murieron ahogadas cuando la embarcación de madera en la cual se trasladaban se hundió cerca de la isla griega de Farmakonisi, el 13 de septiembre.
Amid an influx of Iraqis and Syrians into Europe, the West is neglecting another group of refugees also in desperate need of help.
TOVARNIK, Croatia — Rajab Ali, a 16-year-old Hazara boy from Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, was silently weeping when we found him standing at the last remaining opening in the 12-foot-high razor-wire border fence Hungary has constructed on its border with Serbia. (Rajab’s name has been changed to protect his identity.) When my photographer, Zalmai, an Afghan refugee from the Soviet war of the 1980s, asked the boy what was wrong, he seemed temporarily stunned. He had been in tears for the last six hours and no one addressed him in his native language, let alone asked him what was wrong.
Six hours before, Rajab had been separated from his parents and siblings as Serbian authorities pushed the family onto buses and sent them toward the Hungarian border. For hours, he waited by the border as thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans walked along the railway tracks, desperately looking for any sign of his family. He was penniless, didn’t know the phone number of any of his relatives. Finally, he saw someone he knew and went with them to seek his family.
The desperate attempts by so many Syrian families fleeing the Assad regime’s barrel bombs and the Islamic State’s terror by walking to security in Europe has, however briefly, caught the world’s attention. But the Syrians are not alone in deserving compassion.
Although international interest in Afghanistan has waned and most foreign troops are long gone, the war there is only getting worse. The first six months of 2015 saw the highest number of casualties among women and children since the U.N. started keeping track in 2009. Many Afghans leaving now are fleeing violence, insecurity, or threats from the Taliban or government militia forces. They are just as entitled to refugee status or other protection.
“The Syrians have gone through four years of brutal war, but for the Afghans it has been nearly 40 now,” an Afghan military officer who fled Kabul after receiving death threats from the Taliban complained to me. “Why are we hearing ‘Syrians only, Syrians only,’ as people board the buses here at the border, while we are kept waiting in the hot sun?”
The long journeys of the Afghan asylum seekers often involve deadly dangers, particularly trying to cross Iran into Turkey. They risk Iranian border guards firing on them, with the resulting deaths virtually unnoticed by the international community.
Amir Faim, a 23-year-old farmer from Afghanistan’s Parwan province, and his wife, Navida, 18 — their three-month-old baby son, Parwan, in his father’s arms — stood in the long line at the Röszke collection point on the Hungarian side of its border with Serbia, hoping to board a bus to take them to the dismal detention camps. Like most I spoke to, they hoped to go on to Austria and Germany.
Faim’s family had already waited all morning, then tried to walk to Budapest, 110 miles away, after watching in frustration while Syrian asylum seekers were allowed to board buses. They were told to wait in the hot sun. After they walked 6 miles, the Hungarian border police and Dutch officers assigned to Frontex, the EU’s border agency, stopped the group and ordered them to return to the collection point and wait again for the buses.
Faim told me that his family had sold everything they owned — their land, car, home, and jewelry — to collect the $16,000 smugglers demanded to take them out of Afghanistan. They had lived with instability for years, but the approaching threat of Afghan insurgents who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State finally made them decide to seek safety and security abroad.
Iranian border guards fired on them as they attempted to cross, forcing everyone to run away in panic. In the chaos, they lost their son, just two-months-old at the time, and it took them three hours of frantic searching to find him again, picked up by someone in their scattered group.
For many Afghans, the journey is even tougher. They flee Afghanistan with just bus fare to the AfghanIran border, and walk most of the way to Europe, unable to pay for smugglers or bus rides. Ismail, a 15- year-old boy from Logar province, told me he and his parents had walked for four weeks to cross Iran, and then had to cross the 15-foot-tall razor wire fence on the Bulgaria-Turkey border using ladders and blankets because they could not afford to pay the boat smugglers for the dangerous but short trip from Izmir to the Greek islands.
For many Afghans, the unfamiliar European terrain is utterly confusing. One day recently, as freezing rain fell from the sky, we found a column of about 1,000 people trying to walk from the Hungarian border. As we passed a group of Afghans and my photographer greeted them in Dari, they shouted, “What is the capital of this country?” Budapest. “How far is it?” Very far, 110 miles, we answered, as we watched the despair come over their faces.
Like many Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers, many of the Afghans do have legitimate reasons to flee the bloodshed and terror that has engulfed much of their country. They too deserve to be treated humanely, and offered safe and legal paths to have to their asylum claims fairly heard.
The fences and deadly obstacles will not deter many Afghans from trying to bring their children to safety and a better life in Europe. At the Hungarian border last week, I met an Afghan Hazara mother, walking with her three children. She told me the journey had been very tough and knew that many more obstacles lay ahead. “But fences and such things will not stop us on our journey, we will make it in the end,” she added softly but determinedly, picking up her bags and continuing down the tracks with her children. I didn’t even have the chance to ask her name.
While EU leaders at the 23 September emergency summit on the refugee crisis struggled to reach agreement on how to cooperate, they all seemed to agree with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s observation that “solving problems of [the EU] external borders is not possible without working with Turkey”.
Many Europeans are asking: Isn’t Turkey a safe country for Syrian refugees? Why don’t they just stay there? In fact, the overwhelming majority of people who have fled the violence in Syria for Turkey have stayed there. Turkey not only hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, 1.9 million, but also the largest number of refugees of any country in the world. Turkey has been remarkably generous: it has built and maintained 25 refugee camps along the Syrian border and has a temporary protection system for Syrian refugees.Many Syrians are, in fact, now leaving Turkey or just travelling through without staying.
I have been talking with some of the asylum seekers as they trek through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, asking them about their reasons for fleeing, their experiences during the journey, and their hopes for the future. I heard no single reason why Syrian refugees are moving on from Turkey. Instead, there are many factors involved. These reflect living conditions in Turkey, the varied backgrounds of refugees from Syria with varying levels of disquiet about their potential future in Turkey and, of course, the draw of Europe.
There is no data yet on how many of the newest Syrian arrivals in Europe have come directly from Syria compared to those that have lived as refugees in Turkey. Some of the new arrivals in Europe we met with said they had just recently left Syria, however, and were spending only the time it took to travel through Turkey on their way to Greece.
Others said they came from parts of Damascus and other areas controlled by the Assad government. Early on in the conflict, Turkey called for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, and has openly sided with rebels. Nearly all of the long-term refugees in Turkey have come from areas of Syria held by armed groups, but it is no longer the case that one’s political sympathies will be immediately evident based on place of origin.
When pressed, refugees coming from government-controlled areas simply told me that they saw no future in Syria, no end to the conflict and that they feared conscription or being drawn deeper into the war. They would not, however, be more specific about why they were unwilling to remain in Turkey.
Unlike Syrian refugees I have previously interviewed in Turkey, who expressed a desire to return to Syria as soon as they were able, amongst these newer arrivals more expressed the view that the Syrian ship is sinking and that their exile is likely to be permanent, hence the preference for Europe.
As evidenced by the drowning death of the toddler Aylan Kurdi, the exodus to Europe also includes Syrian Kurds. Any Kurd living in the region is aware of the violence that has erupted this year in Turkey between government forces and Kurdish militants. This violence has halted a peace process that had offered some hope to end a decades-long conflict between the government and the country’s large Kurdish minority.
Beyond these tensions within the country is the Turkish government’s well known antipathy to the armed Syrian Kurdish forces on its border. The Turkish authorities have become much stricter in limiting movement in and out of predominantly Kurdish refugee camps after a suicide bombing in southern Turkey.
There are also distinct reasons why the Sunni Arab Syrian refugees who have been living in Turkey for several years are leaving now. When Turkey first opened its doors to Syrian refugees, it expected that Assad would fall quickly and the refugees would return home. The persistence of the Assad regime was unexpected in Ankara, and popular tolerance for the refugees appears to be waning. In a 2014 public opinion poll, 86 percent said that Turkey should not admit any more Syrian refugees.
Turkey's Foreign Minister, Mevlü Çavuşğlu, wrote a letter to the EU leaders prior to their September 23 summit meeting. He demanded their support for a “safe zone” 68 miles long and 40 miles deep on the Syrian side of the Turkish border as a quid pro quo for Turkey’s cooperation on migration control.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced earlier this summer that this safe zone would constitute “the basis of 1.7 million Syrian refugees' return." The US has made clear, however, that it would not be willing to enforce a no-flight zone, and so it’s likely this prospective border space would be more “unsafe area” than safe.
Turkey’s is committed to carving out a place of return in Syria and talks openly about this as the basis for placing the refugees there. This, combined with its unwillingness to give Syrians a firm legal refugee status, is a serious basis for Syrians to be uncertain about Turkey’s commitment to continue to provide temporary protection to Syrian refugees.
After five years, Syrian refugees in Turkey - 80 percent of whom live outside the camps- have exhausted their resources. They are prohibited from working legally, so those who do work illegally are exploited and underpaid, increasing social tensions between the refugees and their hosts.
As humanitarian support has waned, with UN appeals still less than 40 percent funded, refugees in the camps also have cause for concern. The UN food agency announced earlier this year that it had to withdraw from nine refugee camps because of financial shortfalls.
Only about 20 percent of the refugee children living outside of camps in Turkey went to school last year. Human Rights Watch will be publishing a report later this month that shows the impact on Syrian children in Turkey of being out of school for more than two years.
This includes being cut-off from education not only by the violence inside Syria, but also because of language and other barriers in Turkey. Seeking education was the most common reason young people told me they were going to Europe.
Those of us who have been bearing witness to the Syrian exodus to Europe have certainly felt their desperation, but we have also felt their enormous sense of hope. Not hope for Syria, which is crumbling fast, but hope for Germany, and Sweden. “For me, I have no hope, but for my children,” a Syrian mother said to me.
The Syrian families I met seeking to give their children to a future away from horrors of a brutal war deserve Europe’s protection, not fences and deadly obstacles.
Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, is applauded by his colleagues as he leaves from his office in Diyarbakir, Turkey, early on October 20, 2015.
(Istanbul) – The decision to investigate one of Turkey’s most prominent human rights lawyers for “terrorist propaganda” demonstrates the sorry state of freedom of expression and the deeply flawed criminal justice system in Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today.
Tahir Elçi, the head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, was arrested on October 20, 2015, over comments he made on a television program. The deputy chief public prosecutor for the Istanbul municipality of Bakırköy began an investigation into Elçi after he stated, on an October 15 CNN Türk talk show, that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was not a terrorist organization but an armed political movement.
Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, is applauded by his colleagues as he leaves from his office in Diyarbakir, Turkey, early on October 20, 2015.
“Tahir Elçi’s comments on TV fell squarely within the boundaries of acceptable free speech in a democracy,” said Human Right Watch senior Turkey researcher Emma Sinclair-Webb. “He committed no recognizable crime and this shocking investigation and travel ban against one of the most prominent human rights lawyers in the country should be dropped immediately.”
On October 19, Bakırköy Penal Judge of the Peace No. 2 issued an order for Elçi’s arrest on the grounds that his whereabouts were not known and that a summons to testify before the prosecutor could not be issued. Police arrested him at his office in the Diyarbakır Bar Association on October 20, and brought him to Istanbul to testify before a prosecutor.
The prosecutor applied to court the same day to have him detained, pending completion of investigation. The court ordered Elçi’s release late that afternoon but banned him from traveling outside the country until the investigation is complete.
Elçi has worked since the early 1990s as a human rights lawyer in the southeastern towns of Cizre, his home town, and later in Diyarbakır, the largest city in region. He has worked extensively to represent families of victims of egregious human rights violations by the security forces, including enforced disappearances and unlawful killings by suspected government agents.
Over many years, he has played a key role in representing victims of these crimes before the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey, and has worked closely with international human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
As head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association he has led fact-finding missions into the recent curfews imposed on cities and towns in southeast Turkey, including Cizre, Silvan, Bismil, and Diyarbakır, and documented human rights violations by the security forces against civilians.
Bir televizyon programında yapılan yorum nedeniyle açılan soruşturma durdurulmalı; konulan seyahat yasağı kaldırılmalı
(İstanbul) – İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü (Human Rights Watch) bugün yaptığı bir açıklamada Türkiye’nin en saygın insan hakları avukatlarından biri hakkında terör propagandası yaptığı gerekçesiyle soruşturma açılmasına karar verilmiş olmasının, Türkiye’de ifade özgürlüğünün ve ceza hukuku sistemindeki derin bozukluğun içler acısı halini gözler önüne serdiğini belirtti.
Diyarbakır Barosu Başkanı Tahir Elçi 20 Ekim 2015 tarihinde bir televizyon programında yaptığı yorumlar nedeniyle gözaltına alındı. Elçi’nin 15 Ekim günü CNN Türk’te yayınlanan bir programda PKK’nın terörist bir örgüt değil, silahlı bir siyasal hareket olduğunu söylemesi üzerine, Bakırköy Cumhuriyet Başsavcı Vekili Elçi hakkında bir soruşturma başlattı.
Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, is applauded by his colleagues as he leaves from his office in Diyarbakir, Turkey, early on October 20, 2015.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü Türkiye kıdemli araştırmacısı Emma Sinclair-Webb “Tahir Elçi’nin televizyonda yaptığı yorum bir demokraside kabul edilebilir ifade özgürlüğünün sınırlarının tam içinde yer alıyor,” şeklinde konuştu ve devam etti: “Kendisi tanımlı bir suç işlememiş değil; bu şoke edici soruşturma ve ülkedeki en saygın insan hakları avukatlarından birine konmuş seyahat yasağı hemen kaldırılmalı.”
19 Ekim tarihinde Bakırköy 2. Numaralı Sulh Ceza Hakimliği Elçi’nin “soruşturmanın sonuçsuz kalmasını sağlamak amacıyla yurtiçinde saklandığı, tüm aramalara rağmen kendisine ulaşılamadığı ve tebligat yapılamayacağı” gerekçesiyle, Elçi hakkında yakalama kararı verdi. Polis Elçi’yi Diyarbakır Baro’sundaki ofisinde gözaltına alarak, savcılıkta ifade vermesi için İstanbul’a getirdi.
Savcılık aynı gün mahkemeye Elçi’nin soruşturma tamamlanıncaya kadar tutuklanması talebiyle başvurdu. Tutuklama talebinin reddeden mahkeme akşam üzeri Elçi’yi serbest bıraktı ancak soruşturma tamamlanıncaya dek ülkeden çıkışını yasakladı.
Elçi 1990’ların başından bu yana, Güneydoğu Anadolu bölgesinde, önce memleketi olan Cizre’de, sonra da bölgedeki en büyük kent olan Diyarbakır’da insan hakları avukatı olarak çalıştı. Özellikle güvenlik güçleri tarafından yapılan, faillerinin devlet görevlisi olduğundan şüphenilen yasadışı öldürme ve zorla kaybolma gibi çok ağır insan hakları ihlallerinin mağdurlarının ailelerini temsil etti.
Yıllar boyunca Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesinde Türkiye’ye karşı açılan davalarda bu suçların mağdurlarının ailelerinin temsil edilmesinde kilit önemde bir rol oynadı ve İnsan Hakları izleme örgütü ve Uluslararası Af Örgütü gibi uluslar arası insan hakları grupları ile yakın bir işbirliği yaptı.
Diyarbakır Barosu başkanı olarak Güneydoğu’daki Cizre, Silvan, Bismil ve Diyarbakır gibi yerleşim yerlerinde son zamanlarda uygulanan sokağa çıkma yasakları ile bağlantılı keşif ziyaretleri düzenledi ve güvenlik güçleri tarafından sivillere karşı yapılan insan hakları ihlallerini belgeledi.
(Athens) – Armed masked men have been disabling boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea and pushing them back to Turkish waters, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch spoke to nine witnesses who described eight incidents in which masked assailants – often armed – intercepted and disabled the boats carrying asylum seekers and migrants from Turkey toward the Greek islands, most recently on October 7 and 9, 2015. The witnesses said that the assailants deliberately disabled their boats by damaging or removing the engines or their fuel, or puncturing the hulls of inflatable boats. In some cases, the boats were towed to Turkish waters.
Asylum seekers and migrants arrive at the Greek island of Lesbos after being rescued by volunteer Spanish lifeguards when their lives were put at risk by masked men in black uniforms in speedboats who rammed into their rubber raft and removed and threw the engine into the sea. Oct 9, 2015.
“Disabling boats in the Aegean makes an already dangerous journey even more likely to result in death,” said Eva Cossé, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch. “These criminal actions require an urgent response from the Greek authorities.”
Human Rights Watch also found new cases in which Greek border guards summarily returned migrants and asylum seekers to Turkey across the land border at Evros.
On October 9, Human Rights Watch staff witnessed an overloaded inflatable rubber boat adrift in the waters between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos for more than an hour, until a group of Spanish lifeguard volunteers set off on their own boat to rescue them. Right after the rescue, 17-year-old Ali from Afghanistan told Human Rights Watch that their boat had taken off eight hours earlier for Lesbos from the Turkish shore at Assos, packed with men, women, and children. But 30 minutes into their journey, a speedboat suddenly rammed their rubber dinghy. On board were five men dressed in black, their faces covered with balaclavas, armed with handguns.
Ali, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker stands wrapped in an emergency thermal blanket on the shore of Lesbos island, having being rescued from an overcrowded rubber boat which was attacked by masked, uniformed men and had its engine removed and thrown into the sea. October 9, 2015.
“At first when they approached, we thought they had come to help us,” Ali told Human Rights Watch. “But by the way they acted, we realized they hadn’t come to help. They were so aggressive. They didn’t come on board our boat, but they took our boat’s engine and then sped away.”
The masked men attacked three other boats in quick succession before speeding off toward the Greek coast, Ali said. The boats were packed with asylum seekers mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. The men wore no insignia on their black clothing. “They spoke a language we didn’t know, but it definitely was not Turkish, as we Afghans can understand a bit of Turkish,” Ali said.
Ali said a Turkish coast guard boat approached and took the three women and six children from the rubber dinghy, promising to return for the men on board. But the Turkish coast guard did not return. Human Rights Watch staff also watched a Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) boat approach Ali’s rubber boat and circle around before speeding away. People on a second boat with Afghans that arrived in Lesbos the next day confirmed to Human Rights Watch that they were on one of the other three other boats attacked on the previous day.
Three of the incidents described to Human Rights Watch involved more than one witness. The accounts bore many similarities. In two instances, people described seeing the boat with the masked men being lowered from a bigger ship. In three of the cases Human Rights Watch documented, the people interviewed said they had seen the Greek flag on the boat carrying the masked men. In six cases, witnesses said the masked men disabled or removed the engine or its fuel. In two cases, the masked men punctured the boat. In three, they towed the migrants and asylum seekers back toward the Turkish coast. In all the cases, the stricken boats were abandoned without any certainty that the occupants were safe. In four cases, migrants and asylum seekers were beaten or otherwise subjected to violence.
Footage broadcasted by CBS on September 8 shows what appears to be an attack on a boat by unidentified masked men. In the video, a CBS reporter says they witnessed attacks on six boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers that day.
In an October 9 letter to Human Rights Watch, HCG said that it received similar allegations, noting that they, “refer to men with law enforcement officer uniforms resembling the uniforms of the Special Units of the HCG.” The letter says that the coast guard had “repeatedly initiated investigations involving Greek private nationals pretending to be law enforcement authorities and exploiting migrant populations with the aim to illegally acquire their vessels and equipment.”
The coast guard said that on July 30, three masked Greek nationals wearing uniforms resembling those of a law enforcement body were arrested and “brought to justice,” and it was determined that they were not coast guard members. The letter does not clarify on what, if any, charges those arrested were prosecuted or whether they were convicted.
“Putting a stop to these dangerous incidents should be a priority for the Hellenic Coast Guard and other law enforcement bodies,” Cossé said. “Any credible investigation must examine the possibility that coast guard officers may also be involved in these incidents.”
Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations have documented earlier allegations that Greek border guards engage in collective expulsions and pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers at the borders with Turkey. Despite the Greek government’s condemnation of the practice, there is evidence that it is continuing at the Greek-Turkish land border in Evros.
Human Rights Watch also documented four incidents of collective expulsions allegedly carried out by Greek police border guards at the Evros region between May and October, most recently on October 7. In one of the incidents, Mahmoud, a 21-year-old man from Syria, said that on May 13, he was detained at the Greek border police station of Didimoticho along with nine other Syrians and 25 Afghans from approximately 11:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. the next day, then transferred by bus to the Evros river, put on a boat, and pushed back to Turkey. Amnesty International and Greek media have reported similar allegations.
In a letter on September 25 responding to a Human Rights Watch inquiry, the Greek Police said they investigated an incident reported by the Greek Ombudsman in August concerning the alleged pushback of 30 Syrians, including women and children, to Turkey. The letter said that “[s]ubsequent investigations by Police Directorate of Orestiada did not reveal any procedural wrong-doing.”
Greek police confirmed by telephone on October 16 that they are investigating 20 allegations by human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, that Greek police robbed and forced back Syrian asylum seekers who entered the country by land from Turkey.
Greek authorities should promptly investigate in a transparent, thorough, and impartial manner repeated allegations that Greek border guards are involved in collective expulsions at the Evros region, Human Rights Watch said. Any officer engaged in such illegal acts, as well as their commanding officers, should be subject to disciplinary sanction and, as appropriate, criminal prosecution.
Human Rights Watch called in January 2014 for a parliamentary inquiry into the activities of the HCG after earlier allegations that a coast guard vessel carried out a pushback at sea. There continues to be a need for such an inquiry, Human Rights Watch said.
Attacks at Sea and Pushbacks to Turkey
On October 10, a rubber boat carrying Afghans arrived on Lesbos. Passengers confirmed that they had been on one of four boats attacked the previous day. Human Rights Watch had witnessed one adrift in the waters between Turkey and Lesbos for more than an hour before the Spanish volunteers rescued them. Passengers said they had been towed back to Turkey by the Turkish coast guard, then made the crossing again the next day. A 38-year-old Afghan said:
About one hour and 15 minutes after we set off from Turkey, there was a boat that came that we believe it was Greek. It was a grey plastic boat, a Zodiac, like a police boat and very fast. The men on board were all dressed in all-black military clothes and boots that had no insignia on them. We couldn’t see their faces because they were all masked. They were armed with pistols and very aggressive and they came right up to our boat. They cut the fuel line going to the engine, and took the cables. They broke the engine, and they hit me with the motor cable. When they were finished, they set off for the coast of Greece. They attacked four boats, us and three other ones. I speak Turkish, I lived in Turkey for two years, and I know they didn’t speak Turkish.
Hassan (pseudonym), a 27-year-old Syrian interviewed in Turkey on October 10, said that at midday October 7, masked men punctured their boat and beat its passengers. Hassan, who was driving the boat but is not a smuggler, was severely beaten. He said the Turkish coast guard first stopped their boat carrying him and 22 other people: “I couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, but they were telling us not to go where the big European ship was, that they would harm us.”
He said the Turkish coast guard tried to block their way, but he kept going around them and subsequently got away:
Then we came to the European boat. It was big and headed toward us. They pointed an automatic rifle at me…. Then a small boat came down from the big boat. There were four men in the small boat all dressed in black, black ski masks that showed only their eyes and mouth and even black gloves. They were armed with big knives strapped to their legs and with plastic police batons. They spoke some language that I couldn’t recognize. They were telling us to go back. They were masked the whole time.
The men, who had identified Hassan as the driver, took him into their boat and beat him.
They kicked me all over my body and hit me everywhere with the police sticks. One tried to break my arm by pulling it back. I was unarmed and did not try to fight or resist them. They continued beating me for about 10 minutes…. I thought they were going to kill me. Then they ordered me to drive the rubber boat back to Turkey.
Human Rights Watch observed bruises on his body and face.
The men followed Hassan as he drove the boat back to Turkey. As they approached Turkish territorial waters, one of the men pulled out his big knife and punctured their boat. “I thought he was going to kill me, but instead he punctured the boat,” Hassan said. “He punctured it one time. Other passengers put their hands over the hole to try to keep all the air from leaking out.” Hassan said he couldn’t identify the boat or the masked men.
Mahmoud (pseudonym), a 55-year-old man from Syria who was on the same boat but who was interviewed separately, gave a similar account. He said the big ship had four flags:
At the top was a Greek flag, then the EU, then two other flags I didn’t recognize…. The ship had something written in blue letters that I couldn’t read…. They tried to hit me on the head, but I ducked and they missed. They were beating for 15 or 20 minutes. They were beating everyone, not distinguishing, even women and children…. We were in Greek waters at the time…. After they pulled us to Turkish waters they punctured our boat…. Everyone survived. It was horrible. The small fast boat made circles around us to make waves to make water go in our boat. We used our hats to try to bail water out of the boat.
A 22-year-old from Syria, Iyad (pseudonym), described a similar incident from September 7, when interviewed in Athens on September 15. He said the boat he was on, heading to the Greek island of Chios with 47 people, including a 6-year-old, was intercepted by a boat he believed belonged to the HCG, based on the uniforms worn by its four occupants and the vessel’s Greek flag. He said three of the men wore masks and one man’s face was uncovered:
We were three kilometers from Chios island. Then [a boat] came…. They asked us to say ‘Thanks Greece, fuck the Turks.’ Then they said, ‘We are going to help you. There is a boat that will arrive. We will get you all in and take you to Greece.’ But they tied our boat with a rope and pulled us back to Turkish waters. And then, when they released us, they said, ‘Wait five minutes here and the boat will arrive.’ But we were in the Turkish waters so we started again our engine.
Shortly after that, the same boat carrying masked men crossed again in front of Iyad’s boat. The men pulled their guns out and one of them, holding a stick, came above them and started hitting people, Iyad said. “He beat everyone [on the boat] up, and even some people were bleeding. One of us had his head open and his face was full of blood. And one other had two broken fingers. They took the engine from the boat and they tried to tie our boat. We said no and they pointed their M4s [guns] at us.” Iyad said he recognized the weapon from Syria.
Iyad said that the boat had a Greek flag and Greek lettering, and that the men were wearing uniforms, with black trousers and light blue shirts with “C.I.B.” in white letters on the shirt. It is unclear what C.I.B. might refer to.
They took the engine with them on their boat and they pulled us again to Turkey. They told us, “Nobody tries to destroy the boat because we are not going to save you.” Then they came again, and turned around us making waves. They were doing circles around our boat making big waves.
Iyad said the waves pushed them to a small deserted island before the Turkish coast guard picked them up. “We stayed on the boat, with the waves, for three hours and then on the island from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m…. At the end, the Turkish coast guard came and brought us to Izmir. They took our passports and we stayed from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the coast guard station there.”
On September 6, Human Rights Watch interviewed Ahmed (pseudonym), a 42-year-old Syrian, who said that at a half-hour past midnight on July 20, he and his 10-year-old son left Izmir by boat, heading toward Lesbos.
At around 2 a.m., a boat with four masked men with spotlights, knives, and batons sped toward them and halted their progress. The boat carrying the masked men was a small, dark-colored powerboat. “They started shouting at us, cursing words like ‘shut up, you shit,’” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said the masked men were wearing dark clothes with a crest on their jackets and speaking a language among themselves that he did not understand. “They looked like ISIS militants with their black masks,” Ahmed said. “We were scared. We tried to talk to them in English but they kept telling us to shut up.”
The masked men parked their powerboat at the rear of Ahmed’s boat, removed its fuel tank and tried to destroy its engine: “When they couldn’t break the engine down with their baton, they cut the cords of the engine instead. Then they dragged us back towards the Turkish coast and left us in the middle of the sea.”
Ahmed said they called the hotline for the Turkish coast guard and at around 3:30 a.m., a helicopter located them at sea. About an hour later, the Turkish coast guard came, picked them up, and returned them to Izmir.
In a separate interview on September 6, Ahmed’s daughter, 15-year-old Sadra, who was on another boat with other relatives, told Human Rights Watch that at around 9 a.m. on September 1, a gray boat carrying four masked men stopped her and the approximately 40 other people on board, including 13 children and 12 women.
Only one of the four men spoke to us in English; the rest did not speak at all. They also did not communicate with one another in a different language. The man started shouting at us, “Shut up. Go back to where you came from.” Another masked man hit one of the drivers with a stick.
The masked men cut the engine wires, leaving the people on board stranded:
I tried to figure out our location using GPS and to get in touch with the Turkish coast guard to rescue us, but in the meantime, some of the people on board the boat managed to fix the wiring of the engine. Some of the people wanted to proceed toward Greece; others wanted to return to Turkey. Ultimately, people were scared that the masked men would return and abuse us further, or even worse, kill us. So we decided to return to Turkey.
Sadra could not identify any of the masked men. She said that only one spoke in English and that there were no crests, signs, or flags on their clothing or boat.
Muhammad (pseudonym), a 21-year-old Syrian interviewed on September 7 on Lesbos as part of a group, said that after he and his friend Yezem (pseudonym) had attempted to cross to Greece through the Greek-Turkish land border, where he said Greek border guards pushed them back, they tried twice by sea. They succeeded the fourth time. In their first attempt at sea, on July 14, Muhammad said what he believes was a boat belonging to HCG stopped in front of their boat and two other rubber boats carrying asylum seekers and migrants, 45 meters from the Greek coast. Muhammad told us he saw a smaller rubber boat with masked men being lowered from the ship:
[T]hey came to us. They took the fuel from all the rubber boats in order to not have any fuel to continue and then they put ropes on the rubber boats and they pulled us…. They put us in an island between Greece and Turkey, where nobody lives…. We were 130 people.
They gave us some water. We thought that they brought us to Mytilene [the Lesbos capital], but they put us to that island. I was disappointed. Most of the group was women and kids. We don’t deserve what we faced. All this time in the sea and then they pushed us back.
Muhammad said that the group who intercepted them had about 10 people, including one woman. All except the woman had their faces covered. They were wearing black uniforms and were holding M16 guns. Muhammad said the boat was gray, with a Greek flag.
In their second attempt, 10 days after Eid al-Fitr, at the end of July Muhammad said, people who looked similar stopped them at around 11 a.m. and punctured their boat:
They put their boat in the water and were chasing us. They couldn’t reach [the driver] so they took a knife and slashed the boat. But it’s a special rubber boat. Every 50 centimeters it has its own compartment [for air] and the rest is safe. Water was coming in but not a lot. It was not dangerous. We managed to go fast to the Turkish side.
Collective Expulsions in Evros
On October 11, Human Rights Watch interviewed Ali (pseudonym), a 27-year-old Iraqi who said he was pushed back from Bulgaria to Greece and from Greece to Turkey on October 7. He said Bulgarian border guards caught his group of 20 to 25 Iraqis and beat the group, which included children:
The [Bulgarians] took our money and our phones. They put us on a bus and drove about three to five kilometers back to the Greek border. The Greek military saw them sending us back. Then they [the police] caught us. We said that we would like to stay in Greece and that we did not want to go back to Turkey.
They brought a big truck that is meant to hold prisoners. They brought us to the river that separates Greece and Turkey. They had small boats to take us across the river. They kicked and hit us to force us on the boats. One of them punched me with his fist. They also slapped children. It was the police. They were a special force dressed in commando-like camouflage. They took our money and phones. They stole a lot of money, over US$20,000 from everyone.
On September 7, Human Rights Watch interviewed Muhammad (pseudonym), a 20-year-old Syrian, who said he and six other young Syrian men swam across the Evros River and reached Ferres in Greece on foot. Muhammad said that a group of men wearing black uniforms and face masks had intercepted them at a train station outside Alexandroupolis and summarily returned them to Turkey on June 27. He said the men had M16s (he said he could recognize the type of weapon from his experience in Syria) and drove normal police cars. Before returning them to Turkey, the men took Muhammad and the others’ phones and money:
Their uniform is completely black, different than the other uniforms, and most of the time they are with masks. And they carry weapons…. This incident happened at 3 to 4 a.m. until dawn. They put us in a van, closed the door, and took us to the same river we crossed. Then, they put us in a boat … not a rubber boat. It was a wooden boat. We didn’t see any symbols or anything on it. And then, they pushed us back to the Turkish side. Then, the Turkish police came and arrested us.
Muhammad said he witnessed some of the others in the group being beaten with a stick of wood. He did not experience any physical violence.
Ahmed (pseudonym), the 42-year-old Syrian traveling with his 10-year-old son who was attacked by the masked men in July while trying to reach Lesbos, told us that on August 3 or August 5, he and his son crossed the Evros River with 20 others. They were intercepted in the woods by people Ahmed described as policemen and detained in the woods for roughly 16 hours. They were given food and water. Eventually, a bus came and transported them to a different location on the river:
They told us to go back to Turkey. We pleaded with them to not send us back but they waved their weapons at us and told us to get on small boats and head toward Turkey. At the Greek riverbank, the policemen brought two more Iraqis to join our group. The Iraqis were captured in Bulgaria and sent to Greece.
On May 25, Human Rights Watch interviewed Mahmoud, a 21-year-old man from Syria who, with four other Syrians, had attempted to cross the land border into Greece from Turkey in Evros. Mahmoud said that on May 12, two Greek border guards arrested him and others soon after they had crossed the fence from Turkey and transferred them to the Greek border police station of Didimoticho. They were detained along with nine other Syrians and 25 Afghans from about 11:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. the next day, when they were taken by police bus to a location on the Evros River 30 minutes away.
When they got off the bus, he saw six officers he described as “commandos” in black or dark blue uniforms and full face masks, two other officers in the same uniform sitting on a rubber boat in the river, as well as one person he identified as their commanding officer, dressed in a uniform with gray, light brown, and dark green colors:
They put us in one queue and we were forbidden to raise our heads. One of us lifted his head and was slapped three times. We were not allowed to speak. They took the batteries from our phones and put everything in a plastic bag. Mine was an iPhone and they couldn’t take the battery out so they took it and I never got it back. They took us to the other side [Turkey] in three trips.
(Istanbul) -- As the EU bends over backward to get Turkey to accept a deal to prevent Syrian and other refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from leaving its shores or crossing its western borders, it’s worth thinking hard about what’s at stake.
Whatever short-term gains such an agreement might offer the EU and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, such a deal may come at the expense of efforts by the EU to address Turkey’s long-term human rights problems that threaten regional stability. It risks trapping ever greater numbers of asylum seekers in Turkey, which lacks a functioning system to protect them. And it sacrifices much of the EU’s remaining leverage with Ankara at a time when Human rights and the rule of law in Turkey are at the worst level I’ve seen in the 12 years I’ve worked on Turkey’s human rights.
Far from being a safe country for refugees, as the EU deal contends, Turkey is also an increasingly unsafe country for its own population -- not least because its political leaders have opted for a repressive and intimidating campaign against all political rivals and critics.
Turkey is generously hosting over two million Syrian refugees under a “temporary protection” system. Many others, including Iraqis and Afghans, lack even that status in Turkey even though they too come from refugee-producing countries.
Turkey could certainly benefit from financial help from the EU to cope with this reality, not least to help provide education for the refugee children living in Turkey’s cities, 80 percent of whom are not going to school. But leaving aside financial enticements, the reality is that beyond generosity, Turkey does not possess a functioning asylum system.
When it signed up to the UN Refugee Convention, Turkey failed to lift the original World War II geographical limitation that applied the treaty only to European refugees. As a result people arriving from the south and east of its borders -- such as Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans -- have no right to asylum or full refugee status in Turkey. They can only be processed in Turkey for future resettlement in third countries or, as the Syrians have been, granted temporary protection as an exercise of political discretion.
Turkey has no provisions in law to grant non-European refugees full rights or to ensure that they will not be sent back to places where they are at risk, even though Turkey’s international human rights obligations require such protection.
The crux of the EU action plan is that Turkey should keep asylum seekers and migrants within its borders. A brief glance at a map should show that Turkey’s long coast and proximity to Greek islands means that it is highly unlikely that Turkey could keep everyone who wishes to from leaving the country. Sealing its eastern and southern borders to prevent people from even reaching Turkey, a stated goal of the draft action plan, might be easier to accomplish but would put many lives at risk.
Beyond a crackdown on smuggling gangs, keeping people in Turkey would entail a draconian regime of police controls all around the coastline and mass preventive detention of people who might be assembling to leave.
This is a grim prospect for anyone who knows anything about the record of abusive policing in Turkey and it should alert us to major concerns about Turkey, which the EU is conveniently choosing not to mention.
In a bid to hang onto power after indecisive elections earlier this year, the Justice and Development Party government presided over by President Erdoğan has cracked down ruthlessly on the media in the run up to the November 1 general election, done little to distance itself from violent attacks on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and on the Doğan media group and one of its well-known journalists, and used the courts to pursue and lock up enemies.
Over the summer the government willingly resumed an armed conflict with the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after abandoning a peace process that many in Turkey welcomed after decades of fighting and deaths. As the hostilities are being played out in the towns, the cost to civilians has been huge, with hundreds of deaths on all sides over less than three months. On top of that, a bombing in Ankara killing over 100 people shows the closeness of the Syria war and Turkey’s failure to tackle the ISIS threat.
It is scandalous and short-sighted that the EU is willing to ignore the huge crackdown under way in Turkey in its attempt to secure a deal to keep out refugees. Beside opening negotiations that dangle the carrot of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, the European Commission has proposed a regulation to designate Turkey a safe country of origin. This means that Turkish citizens, such as journalists and Kurds fleeing state abuse, would presumptively be assumed not to face persecution if they apply for asylum in the EU. This, despite a 23 percent approval rate for asylum applications from Turkish nationals in the EU in 2014, the same year the European Court of Human Rights found 94 violations of human rights by Turkey.
And delaying of the publication of the annual European Commission Progress Report on Turkey’s steps towards EU membership until after the Turkish elections, suggests the EU is willing to soft-pedal Turkey’s abusive rights record in exchange for its cooperation in stopping asylum seekers and migrants.
Keeping refugees in a country that cannot be described as safe for them, and limiting access to asylum in Europe for Turkey’s own citizens when they may need it most, risks contributing to greater instability within Turkey. Will this be the EU’s poisonous contribution to Turkey’s future?
Maskeli Saldırganlar Botlara Saldırarak Bozuyor ve Yolcuları Taciz Ediyor
(Atina) – İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü bugün yaptığı açıklamada, Ege Denizi'nde silahlı ve maskeli kişilerin sığınmacı ve göçmenleri taşıyan botları kullanılmaz hale getirdiğini bildirdi.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün görüştüğü dokuz tanık, maskeli -ve genellikle silahlı- saldırganların Türkiye'den Yunanistan adalarına sığınmacıları ve göçmenleri taşıyan botları durdurarak kullanılmaz hale getirdikleri sekiz ayrı olay anlattı. Tanıkların aktardıkları olaylardan son ikisi, 7 ve 9 Ekim 2015'te meydana gelmişti. Tanıklar, saldırganların tekneleri, motorları tahrip ederek veya içindeki benzini çıkartarak, şişme botların da gövdelerini delerek kasıtlı olarak kullanılmaz hale getirdiklerini anlattılar. Bazı vakalarda ise tekneler Türkiye karasularına doğru itilmişlerdi.
Siyah üniformalı ve maskeli kişilerin hız teknesiyle şişme botlarına çarptıktan sonra, botun motorunu çıkartarak denize atmaları yüzünden hayatları tehlikeye giren ve gönüllü İspanyol cankurtaranlar tarafından kurtarılarak Yunanistan'ın Midilli Adası’na ulaştırılan sığınmacı ve göçmenler. 9 Ekim 2015
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü Yunanistan uzmanı Eva Cossé, “Ege'de tekneleri tahrip etmek, zaten tehlikeli olan bir yolculuğu daha da ölümcül hale getiriyor. Bu suç eylemlerine karşı, Yunanistan makamlarının acilen tepki vermesi gerekiyor” dedi.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü ayrıca, Yunanistan sınır muhafızlarının sığınmacı ve göçmenleri kısa yoldan, Türkiye'yle kara sınırının olduğu Meriç Nehri üzerinden Türkiye'ye geri gönderdiği yeni vakaları da ortaya çıkardı.
9 Ekim günü, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü çalışanları aşırı kalabalık bir şişme botun, bir grup İspanyol gönüllü cankurtaranın kendi botlarıyla kurtarmasına kadar, Türkiye ile Yunanistan'ın Midilli (Lesbos/Lesvos) Adası arasındaki sularda bir saatten fazla sürüklendiğine tanıklık ettiler. Kurtarma operasyonundan hemen sonra Afganistanlı 17 yaşındaki Ali, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'ne, kadın, erkek ve çocuk dolu botun sekiz saat önce Türkiye'nin Assos kasabasından Midilli'ye doğru yola çıktığını söyledi. Ali, yola çıktıktan yarım saat sonra, aniden, içinde siyahlar giymiş, yüzleri kar maskeli ve ellerinde tabanca olan beş kişinin bulunduğu bir sürat motorunun içinde bulundukları lastik bota çarptığını anlattı.
17 yaşındaki Afgan sığınmacı Ali kurtarılıp Midilli Adası’na getirildikten sonra, acil durumlarda kullanılan termal battaniyeye sarılı dururken. Ali’nin de içinde olduğu aşırı kalabalık şişme bot, maskeli ve üniformalı kişilerin saldırısına uğramıştı. Saldırganlar botun motorunu çıkartarak denize atmışlardı. 9 Ekim 2015
Ali, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'ne “Yaklaşmaya başladıklarında, önce bize yardım etmeye geldiklerini düşündük. Ancak, hareketlerinden yardıma gelmediklerini anladık. Son derece saldırgandılar. Bizim botumuza geçmediler, ama botun motorunu aldıktan sonra hızla uzaklaştılar” dedi.
Ali, maskeli adamların büyük bir hızla üç bota daha saldırdıktan sonra Yunanistan sahiline doğru çabucak uzaklaştıklarını söyledi. Botların, çoğu Afganistan, Suriye ve Irak'tan gelen sığınmacılarla tıka basa dolu olduğunu kaydeden Ali, adamların üzerindeki siyah giysilerde hiçbir işaret olmadığını ifade ederek, “Anlamadığım bir dilde konuşuyorlardı ama kesinlikle Türkçe değildi. Biz Afganlar biraz Türkçe biliyoruz” dedi.
Ali, bir Türkiye Sahil Güvenlik teknesinin yaklaşarak şişme bottaki üç kadın ve altı çocuğu aldığını ve erkekleri de almak için geri geleceklerine dair söz verdiklerini, ama dönmediklerini anlattı. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü ekibi ayrıca Yunanistan Sahil Güvenlik (YSG) güçlerine ait bir başka teknenin de Ali'nin bulunduğu bota yaklaşarak etrafında tur attıktan sonra hızla uzaklaştığını gördü. Ertesi gün ikinci bir botla Midilli'ye gelen Afgan sığınmacılar İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'ne, bir önceki gün saldırıya uğrayan diğer üç bottan birinde kendilerinin olduğunu doğruladılar.
Yukarıda tarif edilen üç olay da, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’ne birden fazla kişi tarafından aktarıldı. Tanıkların ifadeleri arasında birçok benzerlik bulunuyordu. İki olayda, tanıklar maskeli kişilerin olduğu botların daha büyük bir gemiden indirildiğini gördüklerini söylediler. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün belgelediği olayların üçünde de görüşülen kişiler, maskeli adamları taşıyan botta Yunanistan bayrağı gördüklerini kaydettiler. Altı olayda, tanıklar maskeli kişilerin botlarının motorunu aldıklarını veya bozduklarını ya da motordan benzini tahliye ettiklerini söylerken, vakalardan ikisinde de botların delindiğini anlattılar. Vakaların üçünde, sığınmacı ve göçmenler Türkiye sahillerine doğru sürülmüş ve vakaların tamamında, tahrip edilen botlar içindekilerin güvende olup olmadıklarına bakılmaksızın terk edilmişlerdi. Vakaların dördünde ise sığınmacı ve göçmenler dövülmüş veya çeşitli türden şiddete tabi tutulmuşlardı.
8 Eylül günü CBS tarafından yayınlanan videoda, kimliği belirsiz maskeli kişilerin bir bota yaptıkları saldırıda neler olduğu görülebilir. Videoda CBS muhabiri, aynı gün içinde sığınmacı ve göçmenleri taşıyan altı bota saldırıldığına tanık olduklarını söylüyor.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'ne gönderdiği 9 Ekim tarihli mektubunda YSG, benzer iddiaların kendilerine de ulaştığını belirterek bu iddialarda “YSG'nin Özel Tim ekibinin üniformalarını andıran polis giysilerinden söz edildiğini” ifade ediyor. Mektupta, Sahil Güvenliğin “Yunanistanlı özel kişilerin göçmen nüfusu istismar ederek, botlarını ve malzemelerini yasadışı bir biçimde ele geçirmek amacıyla kolluk gücü gibiymiş gibi davrandıkları vakalara ilişkin defalarca soruşturma açıldığı” kaydediliyor.
Sahil Güvenlik tarafından yazılan mektupta, 30 Temmuz günü, kolluk güçlerinin üniformalarını andıran giysiler giymiş maskeli üç Yunanistan vatandaşının yakalanarak “yargı önüne çıkarıldığı” ve bu kişilerin sahil güvenlik mensubu olmadığının belirlendiği de ifade ediliyor. Ne var ki, yakalanan bu kişilerin hangi suçlamayla yargılandıkları veya mahkum edilip edilmedikleri açıklanmıyor.
Cossé, “Bu tehlikeli vakaları sonlandırmak, Yunanistan Sahil Güvenlik güçleri ve diğer kanun uygulayıcı kurumların önceliği haline getirilmelidir. Yapılacak tüm ciddi soruşturmalarda bu vakalara sahil güvenlik görevlilerinin karışmış olma ihtimali de incelenmelidir” dedi.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü ve diğer hükümet dışı kuruluşlar daha önce de, Yunanistan sınır muhafızlarının Türkiye sınırında sığınmacı ve göçmenleri toplu olarak sınır dışı ettiklerini ve geri ittiklerini belgelemişti. Yunanistan hükümeti bu uygulamayı kınasa da, Türkiye'yle Yunanistan arasındaki Meriç kara sınırında aynı uygulamanın halen devam ettiğine dair kanıtlar mevcut.İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, Mayıs ila Ekim ayları arasında, en yenisi 7 Ekim'de olmak üzere, Meriç bölgesinde Yunanistan sınır polisi tarafından gerçekleştirildiği iddia edilen dört ayrı toplu sınır dışı etme vakasını daha belgeledi. Bu vakalardan biriyle ilgili olarak, 21 yaşındaki Suriyeli Mahmud, 13 Mayıs'ta Yunanistan'ın Didimoticho sınır polis karakolunda dokuz Suriyeli ve 25 Afganla birlikte gece saat 11.30'dan erkesi gün akşam 8.00'e kadar gözaltında tutulduklarını, sonra da otobüsle Meriç nehrine götürülerek bir bota konulduklarını ve Türkiye'ye geri itildiklerini anlattı. Benzer iddialar Uluslararası Af Örgütü ve Yunanistan medyası tarafından da duyuruldu.
Yunanistan Polisi, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün araştırmasına yanıt olarak gönderdiği 25 Eylül tarihli mektubunda, Ağustos ayında Yunanistan Ombudsman'ı tarafından bildirilen, aralarında çocuk ve kadınların da olduğu 30 Suriyelinin Türkiye'ye geri itildiği iddialarına dair bir vakayı soruşturduklarını bildirdi. Mektupta “[m]üteakiben Orestiada Polis Müdürlüğü tarafından yürütülen soruşturmalarda herhangi bir usul kusuruna rastlanmadığı” belirtiliyor.
Yunanistan polisi kendileriyle 16 Ekim'de yapılan telefon görüşmesinde de, aralarında İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün de bulunduğu insan hakları grupları tarafından bildirilen ve Yunanistan polisinin ülkeye Türkiye'yle kara sınırından geçerek giren Suriyeli sığınmacıları soyarak zorla geri gönderdiğine dair 20 iddiayı araştırdıklarını doğruladı.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, Yunanistan makamlarının, Yunanistan sınır muhafızlarının Meriç bölgesinde toplu sınır dışı etme eylemlerine karıştıklarına dair defalarca dile getirilen iddiaları şeffaf, kapsamlı ve tarafsız bir biçimde, vakit geçirmeksizin soruşturmaları gerektiğini bildirdi. Bu tür yasadışı fiillere karışmış tüm memurların yanısıra amirlerine de disiplin cezası verilmesi ve uygun görüldüğü takdirde bu kişilerin cezai soruşturmaya da tabi tutulmaları gerekir.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, bir sahil güvenlik teknesinin denizde geri itme yaptığına ilişkin daha önceki iddialar üzerine, Ocak 2014'te YSG'nin faaliyetleriyle ilgili bir meclis araştırması yapılması için çağrıda bulunmuştu. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü açıklamasında böylesi bir araştırmaya olan ihtiyacın halen sürdüğü tekrar vurgulandı.
Denizdeki Saldırı ve Türkiye'ye Geri İtme vakaları
10 Ekim günü kalabalık bir grup Afgan sığınmacıyı taşıyan bir lastik bot Midilli adasına ulaştı. Bottaki yolcular bir önceki gün saldırıya uğrayan dört bottan birinde kendilerinin bulunduğunu doğruladı. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, bu botlardan birinin Türkiye ile Midilli arasındaki sularda sürüklendiğine ve bir saat sonra İspanyol gönüllüler tarafından kurtarıldığına tanık olmuştu. Yolcular Türkiye Sahil Güvenliği tarafından Türkiye'ye geri götürüldüklerini ve ertesi gün tekrar yola çıktıklarını anlattılar. 38 yaşındaki bir Afgan şunları kaydetti:
Türkiye'den yola çıktıktan yaklaşık bir saat 15 dakika sonra, Yunanistanlı olduğunu düşündüğünüz bir bot geldi. Zodyak gibi, gri plastikten, polis botuna benzeyen, çok hızlı bir bottu. Bottaki adamların tümü baştan aşağı siyah giysiler ve postallar giymişlerdi ve üzerlerinde hiçbir işaret yoktu. Tabancaları vardı ve son derece saldırgandılar. Doğruca bizim bota yanaştılar. Motorun benzin hortumunu kestiler ve kablolarını söktüler. Motoru bozdular ve bana motordan söktükleri kabloyla vurdular. İşleri bittiğinde Yunanistan sahiline doğru uzaklaştılar. Bizimkiyle birlikte üç bota daha, yani toplam dört bota saldırdılar. Ben Türkçe konuşuyorum, iki yıl Türkiye'de yaşadım ve saldırganların Türkçe konuşmadıklarını biliyorum.
10 Ekim günü Türkiye'de görüşülen 27 yaşındaki Hassan (takma ad), 7 Ekim günü öğle sularında maskeli adamların botlarını deldiklerini ve yolcuları dövdüklerini anlattı. Kaçakçı olmadığını ama botu kullandığını belirten Hassan feci şekilde dövülmüş. Kendisinin ve diğer 22 kişinin bulunduğu botun ilk olarak Türkiye sahil güvenliği tarafından durdurulduğunu kaydeden Hassan, “Ne dediklerini tam olarak anlayamadım ama bize büyük Avrupa teknesinin olduğu yere gitmememizi, gemidekilerin bize zarar vereceklerini söylüyorlardı” dedi.
Türkiye Sahil Güvenliğinin yollarını kesmeye çalıştığını ama kendisinin onların çevresinden dolanarak yoluna devam ettiğini ve sonunda oradan uzaklaştıklarını söyledi:
Sonunda Avrupa teknesine ulaştık. Oldukça büyüktü ve bize doğru geliyordu. Bana makineli tüfek doğrulttular... Sonra, o büyük tekneden küçük bir bot indirildi. İçinde baştan aşağı siyahlar giymiş dört adam vardı; sadece gözlerini ve ağızlarını açıkta bırakan siyah kar maskeleri ve hatta siyah eldivenler takmışlardı. Bacaklarına bağlanmış büyük bıçakları ve plastik polis copları vardı. Hangi dilde konuştuklarını anlayamadım. Bize geri gitmemizi söylüyorlardı. Tüm bu süre boyunca maskelerini çıkarmadılar.
Hassan'ın botu kullanan kişi olduğunu anlayan adamlar onu kendi botlarına alarak dövmüşler.
Bütün vücudumu tekmelediler ve her tarafıma polis coplarıyla vurdular. Biri kolumu geriye doğru çevirerek kırmaya çalıştı. Silahsızdım, ne direndim ne de karşı koymaya çalıştım. Beni 10 dakika boyunca dövdüler... Öldüreceklerini sandım. Sonunda bana lastik botu Türkiye'ye geri götürmemi söylediler.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü Hassan'ın vücudunda ve yüzünde morluklar olduğunu tespit etti.
Adamlar Hassan’ı, botu Türkiye'ye doğru sürerken takip ettiler. Türkiye karasularına yaklaştıklarında, aralarından biri büyük bıçağını çıkararak botlarını deldi. “Beni öldüreceğini düşündüm, ama bıçağını bota sapladı. Tek bir delik açtı. Diğer yolcular deliğin üzerine elleriyle bastırarak havanın kaçmasını önlemeye çalıştılar” diyen Hassan, botun ve maskeli adamların nereli olduklarını anlayamadığını ifade etti.
Aynı botta olan ama ayrıca görüşülen 55 yaşındaki Suriyeli Mahmud (takma ad) da benzeri bir ifade verdi. Mahmud, büyük gemide dört bayrak olduğunu söyledi:
En üste Yunanistan, altında da AB bayrağı vardı. Diğer ikisini bilemedim... Geminin üstüne mavi harflerle birşeyler yazılmıştı ama okuyamadım... Başıma vurmaya çalıştılar; ama eğildiğim için ıskaladılar. 15-20 dakika boyunca durmadan vurdular. Kadın, çocuk ayırmaksızın herkese vuruyorlardı... Bu esnada Yunanistan karasularındaydık... Bizi Türkiye karasularına çektikten sonra botumuzu deldiler... Herkes kurtuldu, ama çok korkunçtu. Küçük hız motoru, botumuza su dolsun diye, etrafımızda daireler çizerek dalga yapıyordu. Bottaki suyu boşaltmak için şapkalarımızı kullandık.
15 Eylül tarihinde Atina'da görüşülen 22 yaşındaki Suriyeli Iyad (takma ad) da, 7 Eylül'de yaşadıkları benzer bir olayı anlattı. İçinde bulunduğu bot, aralarında 6 yaşında bir çocuğun da olduğu 47 kişiyle Kos'a doğru giderken, içindeki dört kişinin üniformalarından ve bottaki Yunanistan bayrağından dolayı YSG'ye ait olduğunu düşündüğü bir bot tarafından durdurulmuş. Iyad üç kişinin maskeli, birinin ise yüzünün açık olduğunu söyledi:
Kos'un üç kilometre açığındaydık. Sonra [bir bot] geldi... Bizden 'Teşekkürler Yunanistan, s..tirsin Türkler' dememizi istediler. Sonra da 'Size yardım edeceğiz. Bir tekne gelecek ve hepinizi ona alacağız ve Yunanistan'a götüreceğiz' dediler. Ancak, teknemizi bir iple kendilerine bağlayıp Türkiye karasularına geri götürdüler. Sonrasında bizi serbest bırakırlarken 'Burada beş dakika bekleyin, tekne birazdan gelecek' dediler. Ama biz Türkiye sularındaydık, dolayısıyla motoru yeniden çalıştırdık.
Kısa süre sonra, içinde maskeli kişilerin bulunduğu aynı tekne Iyad'ın botunun önünü bir kez daha kesti. Iyad, adamların silahlarını doğrulttuklarını ve elinde sopa olan birinin Iyadların olduğu bota geçerek insanlara vurmaya başladığını söyledi. “[bottaki] herkese vuruyordu, hatta bazıları kanıyordu. Birimizin kafası yarılmıştı ve yüzü gözü kan içindeydi. Bir başkasının iki parmağı kırılmıştı. Bizim botun motorunu aldılar ve botu yine bağlamaya çalıştılar. Biz itiraz edince M4'lerini [silahlarını] bize doğrulttular.” Iyad silahı Suriye'den hatırladığını söyledi.
Iyad botta Yunanistan bayrağı ve Yunanca harfler olduğunu ve adamların da siyah pantolon ve üzerine beyaz harflerle “C.I.B” yazılmış olan mavi gömlekten ibaret üniformalar giydiklerini söyledi. “C.I.B.”nin ne anlama geldiği bilinmiyor.
Motoru kendi teknelerine aldılar ve bizi yine Türkiye'ye doğru çektiler. Bize “Kimse botu patlatmaya kalkmasın çünkü sizi kurtarmayacağız” dediler. Sonra tekrar yanaşıp etrafımızda dönerek dalga yaptılar. Çevremizde daireler çiziyor, dev dalgalar oluşturuyorlardı.
Iyad, dalgaların botlarını küçük bir ıssız adaya sürüklediğini ve sonrasında Türkiye Sahil Güvenliğinin kendilerini topladığını söyledi. “Üç saat boyunca dalgalar arasında teknede oturduk. Sonra sabah 6.00-11.00 arası adada bekledik... Sonunda Türkiye Sahil Güvenlik gelip bizi aldı ve İzmir'e götürdü. Pasaportlarımızı aldılar ve sabah 11.30'dan akşam 4.00'e kadar sahil güvenlik karakolunda bekledik.”
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün 6 Eylül'de görüştüğü 42 yaşındaki Suriyeli Ahmed (takma ad), 10 yaşındaki oğluyla birlikte, 20 Temmuz günü gece yarısını yarım saat geçe, bir botla İzmir'den Midilli'ye doğru yola çıktıklarını anlattı.
Ahmed, sabah 2.00 sularında, ellerinde bıçaklar ve coplar olan dört maskeli adamı taşıyan spot ışıklı bir botun kendilerine doğru gelerek ilerlemelerini engellediğini söyledi. Maskeli adamları taşıyan botun küçük, koyu renkli bir sürat teknesi olduğunu söyleyen Ahmed, “Bize bağırmaya, 'kes sesini, bok herif' gibi küfürler etmeye başladılar” dedi.
Ahmet maskeli adamların koyu renkli giysileri olduğunu, ceketlerinde bir arma bulunduğunu ve kendi aralarında anlamadığı bir dil konuştuklarını söyledi. “Siyah maskeleriyle IŞİD militanlarına benziyorlardı. Korkmuştuk. Onlarla İngilizce konuşmaya çalıştık ama bize sürekli sesimizi kesmemizi söylüyorlardı.”
Maskeli adamların sürat teknelerini Ahmedlerin botunun arkasına yanaştırıp yakıt tanklarını çıkardıklarını ve motoru bozmaya çalıştıklarını söyleyen Ahmed, “Motoru ellerindeki sopalarla kıramayınca kablolarını kestiler. Sonra da bizi geri, Türk karasularına sürüklediler ve denizin ortasında bıraktılar” diye anlattı.
Ahmet, Türkiye Sahil Güvenliği’nin acil yardım hattını aradıklarını ve sabah yaklaşık 3.30'da bir helikopterin yerlerini tespit ettiğini söyledi. Bir saat sonra da Türkiye Sahil Güvenliği gelerek herkesi aldı ve İzmir'e geri götürdü.
Kendisiyle 6 Eylül'de ayrıca görüşülen Ahmed'in 15 yaşındaki kızı Sadra, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'ne diğer akrabalarıyla birlikte başka bir botta olduğunu söyledi. Sadra, 1 Eylül günü saat sabah 9.00 sularında içinde maskeli dört kişinin olduğu gri bir botun, aralarında 13 çocuk ve 12 kadının olduğu yaklaşık 40 kişiyle birlikte kendisini de taşıyan botu durdurduğunu anlattı.
Dört adamdan sadece biri bizimle İngilizce konuştu; diğerleri hiç konuşmadı. Kendi aralarında da konuşmadılar. Adam bize “Kesin sesinizi. Nereden geldiyseniz oraya dönün” diye bağırmaya başladı. Bir başka maskeli de, botu kullananlardan birine sopayla vurdu.
Maskeli kişiler motorun kablolarını keserek bottakileri denizin ortasında mahsur bıraktılar:
GPS kullanarak konumumuzu anlamaya ve bizi kurtarmalarını istemek için Türkiye sahil güvenliğiyle irtibata geçmeye çalıştım. Ama bu arada bottakilerden bazıları motorun kablolarını tamir etmeyi başarmıştı. Bazılarımız Yunanistan'a doğru yola devam etmek, bazıları da Türkiye'ye geri dönmek istiyordu. Sonunda, maskeli adamların geri dönüp bizi yine taciz etmelerinden veya daha da kötüsü, öldürmelerinden korktuğumuz için Türkiye'ye dönmeye karar verdik.
Sadra maskeli kişilerin hiçbirinin kimliğini tespit edemedi. Sadece birinin İngilizce konuştuğunu, üstlerinde ve botta arma, işaret ya da bayrak bulunmadığını söyledi.
7 Eylül günü Midilli'de görüşülen gruptan, 21 yaşındaki Suriyeli Muhammad (takma ad) arkadaşı Yezem (takma ad) ile birlikte Yunanistan'la Türkiye arasındaki kara sınırından Yunanistan'a geçmeye çalışıp, Yunanistan'ın sınır muhafızlarınca geri itildikten sonra iki defa daha denizden geçmeye denediklerini anlattı. Dördüncü denemelerinde başarmışlardı. İlk kez deniz yoluyla geçmeye çalıştıkları 14 Temmuz'da, Muhammed'in YSG'ye ait olduğunu düşündüğü bir tekne, Yunanistan sahiline 45 metre kala, kendisinin bulunduğu botla sığınmacı ve göçmenleri taşıyan diğer iki lastik botun önünü kesti. Muhammad tekneden, içinde maskeli kişilerin olduğu daha küçük bir lastik botun indirildiğini gördüğünü anlattı:
[O]nlar yanımıza geldiler. Yola devam edemememiz için tüm şişme botlardaki yakıtı topladılar ve sonra da botlara bağladıkları halatlarla bizi çektiler… Bizi Yunanistan'la Türkiye arasında, hiç kimsenin yaşamadığı bir adaya bıraktılar... 130 kişiydik.
Bize biraz su verdiler. Mitilini'ye [Midilli'nin başkenti] götürdüklerini sanmıştık, ama bizi o ıssız adaya indirdiler. Hayal kırıklığına uğramıştım. Grubun çoğu kadın ve çocuklardan oluşuyordu. Başımıza gelenleri hak etmiyoruz. Denizin ortasında onca zaman kaldıktan sonra bizi geri itiyorlar.
Muhammad önlerini kesen grupta, biri kadın, yaklaşık 10 kişi olduğunu ve kadın hariç hepsinin yüzlerinin maskeli olduğunu söyledi. Siyah üniformalı bu kişilerin ellerinde M16 tüfekler vardı. Muhammad botun gri olduğunu ve Yunanistan bayrağı taşıdığını da kaydetti.
İkinci denemeleri Temmuz ayının sonunda, Kurban Bayramı’ndan 10 gün sonra oldu. Muhammad, öncekine benzer kişilerin sabah saat 11.00 civarında kendilerini durdurup botlarını deldiklerini anlattı:
Botlarını suya indirip bizi takip etmeye başladılar. Bizim kaptana yetişemiyorlardı; onun için bir bıçak alıp botu yardılar. Ama özel bir bottu. Ellişer santimlik bağımsız [hava] kompartmanlarından oluştuğu için, botun diğer bölümlerine bir şey olmadı. İçeri su giriyordu ama çok değildi. Tehlike yoktu. Hızla Türkiye tarafına ulaşmayı başardık.
Meriç'ten Toplu Sınır Dışı Etmeler
11 Ekim'de, İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, 27 yaşındaki Iraklı Ali (takma ad) ile görüştü. Ali, 7 Ekim günü önce Bulgaristan'dan Yunanistan'a, ardından da Yunanistan'dan Türkiye’ye nasıl geri itildiğini aktardı. Bulgaristan sınır muhafızlarının kendisi dahil 20-25 Iraklıdan oluşan ve içinde çocukların da bulunduğu grubu yakaladığını ve dövdüğünü söyledi:
[Bulgarlar] paralarımızı ve telefonlarımızı aldılar. Bizi bir otobüse bindirerek üç-beş kilometre geriye, Yunanistan sınırına götürdüler. Yunanistan askerleri bizi geri yolladıklarını gördü. Sonra [polis] bizi yakaladı. Onlara, Yunanistan'da kalmak istediğimizi ve Türkiye'ye dönmek istemediğimizi söyledik.
Mahpuslar için kullanılan büyük bir kamyon getirdiler. Bu araçla Yunanistan'la Türkiye'yi ayıran nehre götürüldük. Orada bizi nehrin karşı kıyısına götürmek için bekleyen küçük botlar vardı. Hepimizi tekme tokat, zorla bu botlara bindirdiler. Biri bana yumruk attı. Çocukları da tokatlıyorlardı. Bunu yapanlar polisti. Komandolar gibi kamuflaj üniformalı özel bir timdi. Paralarımızı ve telefonlarımızı aldılar. Çok paramızı çaldılar, bizden çaldıkları para toplamda 20,000 Dolardan fazladır.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü'nün 7 Eylül'de görüştüğü 20 yaşındaki Suriyeli Muhammad (takma ad), altı Suriyeli gençle birlikte Meriç nehrini yüzerek geçtiklerini ve Yunanistan'da Ferecik'e (Ferres) yürüyerek ulaştıklarını anlattı. Muhammad siyah üniformalı ve yüzleri maskeli bir grubun Dedeağaç'ın (Alexandroupolis) dışındaki tren istasyonunda önlerini kestiğini ve 27 Temmuz'da kısa yoldan Türkiye'ye geri gönderdiklerini söyledi. Bu kişilerin ellerinde M16’lar olduğunu (silahların cinslerini, Suriye'deki tecrübesinden dolayı bildiğini belirtti) ve normal polis arabası kullandıklarını kaydeden Muhammad, söz konusu kişilerin kendilerini Türkiye'ye göndermeden önce paralarını ve telefonlarını aldıklarını da ifade etti:
Üniformaları tamamen siyah; diğer üniformalara hiç benzemiyor ve çoğunlukla maskeli dolaşıyorlar. Ve silah taşıyorlar... Bu olay sabah saat 3.00-4.00 civarında başladı ve gün batımında bitti. Bizi bir minibüse koyup kapısını kapattılar ve [yüzerek] geçtiğimiz nehre geri götürdüler. Burada bizi bir tekneye bindirdiler... lastik bot değil, ahşap bir tekneydi. Teknenin üzerinde herhangi bir amblem, işaret, hiçbir şey yoktu. Ve sonra bizi Türkiye tarafına geri ittiler. Ardından Türk polisi geldi ve bizi yakaladı.
Muhammad gruptakilerden bazılarını tahta sopalarla dövülürken gördüğünü, kendisinin ise herhangi bir fiziksel şiddete maruz kalmadığını söyledi.
10 yaşındaki oğluyla birlikte yola çıkan ve Midilli'ye ulaşmaya çalışırken maskeli kişilerin saldırısına uğrayan 42 yaşındaki Suriyeli Ahmed (takma ad), 3 ya da 5 Ağustos'ta oğluyla beraber 20 kişilik bir grupla Meriç Nehri’ni geçtiklerini anlattı. Ormanlık alanda Ahmed'in polis olarak tarif ettiği kişilerce durdurulup, ormanda yaklaşık 16 saat boyunca gözaltında tutulmuşlar. Ahmed, kendilerine yemek ve su verildiğini ve sonunda bir otobüsle nehir kenarındaki farklı bir yere götürüldüklerini söyledi:
Bize Türkiye'ye geri gitmemizi söylediler. Onlara bizi geri göndermemeleri için yalvardık ama silahlarını sallayarak oradaki küçük botlara binip Türkiye'ye doğru gitmemizi söylediler. Nehrin Yunanistan kıyısında polis, bizim gruba iki de Iraklıyı kattı. Bu Iraklılar Bulgaristan sınırında yakalanarak Yunanistan'a gönderilmişlerdi.
25 Mayıs günü İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, 21 yaşındaki Mahmud'la görüştü. Mahmud kendisi gibi Suriyeli dört kişiyle birlikte Midilli üzerinden sınırı geçerek Türkiye'den Yunanistan'a geçmeye çalışmıştı. Mahmud, 12 Mayıs günü, Türkiye'den çiti aştıktan kısa süre sonra iki Yunanistan sınır muhafızının kendisini ve diğerlerini yakalayarak Didimoticho sınır polis karakoluna transfer ettiklerini anlattı. Gözaltındaki diğer dokuz Suriyeli ve 25 Afgan’la birlikte gece 11.30'dan ertesi gün akşam 8.00'e kadar tutulduklarını ifade eden Mahmud, ardından polis otobüslerine konularak 30 dakika mesafede, Meriç Nehri kenarındaki bir yere götürüldüklerini anlattı.
Otobüsten indiklerinde, siyah veya koyu mavi üniformalar ve yüzlerinin tamamını kapatan maskeleriyle “komando” olarak tanımladığı altı görevli gördüler. Aynı üniformadan giymiş diğer iki memur da nehirdeki bir şişme botun içindeydi. Ayrıca, Mahmud'un komutan olarak tanımladığı, açık kahverengi ve koyu yeşil renklerde üniformalı bir adam da vardı:
Bizi sıraya soktular; başımızı kaldırmamız yasaktı. Birimiz başını kaldırdı ve üç tokat yedi. Konuşmamıza da izin yoktu. Telefonlarımızın pillerini aldılar ve herşeyi plastik bir torbanın içine koydular. Benimki iPhone olduğu için pilini alamadılar, o yüzden de telefonu olduğu gibi aldılar ve bir daha geri vermediler. Bizi üç sefer yaparak diğer tarafa [Türkiye'ye] taşıdılar.
The Aksaray neighborhood of Istanbul is a veritable smugglers’ den, where you can watch asylum seekers and migrants huddling and planning their next moves. But when I spoke with people there several days ago, I also saw many people with blank stares, the ones who had tried and failed, and were left broke and worried that they had no moves left.
Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans gather in the square outside the Aksaray metro station talking quietly about their growing doubts that they will be able to follow the hundreds of thousands who made the journey to Europe this summer. The weather is getting colder. More worrisome, word is spreading that Turkey has stepped up its coast guard patrols and is arresting migrants and asylum seekers on its western border.
Their anxieties are not unfounded. The European Commission has announced the main points of a deal with Turkey, including billions of euros in funding and visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, in return for Turkey’s cooperation in stemming the flow of third country nationals into the European Union.
Among those turned back at sea was “Eddie,” a Syrian Kurd, whose first hurdle was crossing from Syria into Turkey in mid-September. He said that Turkish border guards opened fire on his group: “They were definitely targeting us and there was no other fighting going on in the area. We were not armed. My brother-in-law was shot in the waist. We were in Turkish territory. I asked the Turkish guards for an ambulance. They did not cooperate … and told us to go back to Syria.”
How can Syrians follow the order to leave the country when they were just arrested for trying to leave the country?
Eddie managed to get his brother-in-law into a hospital in Syria, then successfully crossed back into Turkey and headed directly for the coast. He joined 38 others on a rubber boat bound for Greece on Oct. 7. The Turkish coast guard stopped them, disabled their motor, and splashed water into the boat. To keep from sinking, the passengers threw all their wet and heavy belongings overboard. Although they survived, they returned to the point of embarkation much poorer than before.
Among Syrians arrested on land were “Harun,” his wife, “Hanifa,” and their 6-month-old baby. They are from Khirbet Ghazaleh, in Daraa, a hotbed of opposition to the Bashar al-Assad regime, where, Hanifa told me, army and militia forces associated with the Assad regime killed 65 of her family members in May 2013. She and her father were both wounded as their house caved in after being hit by a mortar round. Armed men dragged her father out of the house, tortured him on the spot, shot him, and left his body in the street. Harun and Hanifa fled to Jordan, then tried to go to Lebanon but were denied entry at the Beirut airport and, fearing deportation to Syria, opted to proceed to Turkey.
On Oct. 7, smugglers in Istanbul crammed them into a seatless minivan with 25 others bound for the coast. “I thought we would suffocate,” said Harun. The smugglers took them to and from the shoreline half a dozen times, but finally gave up, because they never saw a break in the Turkish coast guard patrols. The smugglers then abandoned them in pitch darkness on a rainy night. They wandered to a village and found shelter in some abandoned buildings.
The next morning, Turkish police caught them, took them to the Malkara police station, fingerprinted them, and held them for the next three days with about 45 other Syrians in an old cinema, then put them on a bus they said was bound for Istanbul. But the bus continued past the city, and took them under police escort to Tokat, a Turkish town in distant Central Anatolia.
After they arrived, at 4:30 a.m., an official told them that if they signed a paper written in Turkish, they would be allowed to go back to Istanbul. The paper, which they couldn’t read, said they were caught trying to escape Turkey and were required to leave the country within 30 days. Within the hour, they bought bus tickets and immediately embarked on the 16-hour return trip to Istanbul.
Penalizing people for trying to leave a country by ordering them to leave that county – complete with a pointless 34 hour trip to nowhere and back – is a logic that could best be appreciated by Kafka.
With no way to leave Turkey lawfully, Syrians are faced with the threat of being deported into the hands of a regime they believe would kill them.
Beyond the hardship these young parents and their baby experienced as they were dragged across Turkey and back, they are now left with the confounding and frightening threat of deportation hanging over their heads. How can they follow the order to leave the country when they were just arrested for trying to leave the country? Their only option for legal exit would be back to Syria, where they fear for their lives.
With an EU migration cooperation deal moving toward a conclusion, Turkey appears not only to be cracking down more forcefully on irregular emigration, but to be stepping up efforts to restrict entry, as they did with Eddie and his brother-in-law, and to pressure Syrians in Turkey to go back home, as they have done with Harun and Hanifa. Eddie is destitute and stranded; Harun and Hanifa have lost even the minimal protections they enjoyed under Turkey’s temporary protection system. With no option to leave Turkey lawfully and enter the EU, they are faced with the threat 30 days from now of being deported into the hands of a regime they believe would kill them.
Rather than face that prospect, Harun told me he would attempt the sea voyage with his wife and baby that very night. As I looked at them, I thought of my conversation with Eddie the day before, and wondered if they would be caught and turned back, only to be stuck again, with no exit and an order to leave. Or worse, if their fates would be joined with those of the more than 3,000 people this year who left and never reached any shore.
As the EU bends over backward to get Turkey to accept a deal to prevent Syrian and other refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from leaving its shores or crossing its western borders, it’s worth thinking hard about what’s at stake.
Whatever short-term gains such an agreement might offer the EU and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, such a deal may come at the expense of efforts by the EU to address Turkey’s long-term human rights problems that threaten regional stability. It risks trapping ever greater numbers of asylum seekers in Turkey, which lacks a functioning system to protect them. And it sacrifices much of the EU’s remaining leverage with Ankara at a time when Human rights and the rule of law in Turkey are at the worst level I’ve seen in the 12 years I’ve worked on Turkey’s human rights.
Far from being a safe country for refugees, as the EU deal contends, Turkey is also an increasingly unsafe country for its own population -- not least because its political leaders have opted for a repressive and intimidating campaign against all political rivals and critics.
Turkey is generously hosting over two million Syrian refugees under a “temporary protection” system. Many others, including Iraqis and Afghans, lack even that status in Turkey even though they too come from refugee-producing countries.
Turkey could certainly benefit from financial help from the EU to cope with this reality, not least to help provide education for the refugee children living in Turkey’s cities, 80 percent of whom are not going to school. But leaving aside financial enticements, the reality is that beyond generosity, Turkey does not possess a functioning asylum system.
When it signed up to the UN Refugee Convention, Turkey failed to lift the original World War II geographical limitation that applied the treaty only to European refugees. As a result people arriving from the south and east of its borders -- such as Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans -- have no right to asylum or full refugee status in Turkey. They can only be processed in Turkey for future resettlement in third countries or, as the Syrians have been, granted temporary protection as an exercise of political discretion.
Turkey has no provisions in law to grant non-European refugees full rights or to ensure that they will not be sent back to places where they are at risk, even though Turkey’s international human rights obligations require such protection.
The crux of the EU action plan is that Turkey should keep asylum seekers and migrants within its borders. A brief glance at a map should show that Turkey’s long coast and proximity to Greek islands means that it is highly unlikely that Turkey could keep everyone who wishes to from leaving the country. Sealing its eastern and southern borders to prevent people from even reaching Turkey, a stated goal of the draft action plan, might be easier to accomplish but would put many lives at risk.
Beyond a crackdown on smuggling gangs, keeping people in Turkey would entail a draconian regime of police controls all around the coastline and mass preventive detention of people who might be assembling to leave.
This is a grim prospect for anyone who knows anything about the record of abusive policing in Turkey and it should alert us to major concerns about Turkey, which the EU is conveniently choosing not to mention.
In a bid to hang onto power after indecisive elections earlier this year, the Justice and Development Party government presided over by President Erdoğan has cracked down ruthlessly on the media in the run up to the November 1 general election, done little to distance itself from violent attacks on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and on the Doğan media group and one of its well-known journalists, and used the courts to pursue and lock up enemies.
Over the summer the government willingly resumed an armed conflict with the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after abandoning a peace process that many in Turkey welcomed after decades of fighting and deaths. As the hostilities are being played out in the towns, the cost to civilians has been huge, with hundreds of deaths on all sides over less than three months. On top of that, a bombing in Ankara killing over 100 people shows the closeness of the Syria war and Turkey’s failure to tackle the ISIS threat.
It is scandalous and short-sighted that the EU is willing to ignore the huge crackdown under way in Turkey in its attempt to secure a deal to keep out refugees. Beside opening negotiations that dangle the carrot of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, the European Commission has proposed a regulation to designate Turkey a safe country of origin. This means that Turkish citizens, such as journalists and Kurds fleeing state abuse, would presumptively be assumed not to face persecution if they apply for asylum in the EU. This, despite a 23 percent approval rate for asylum applications from Turkish nationals in the EU in 2014, the same year the European Court of Human Rights found 94 violations of human rights by Turkey.
And delaying of the publication of the annual European Commission Progress Report on Turkey’s steps towards EU membership until after the Turkish elections, suggests the EU is willing to soft-pedal Turkey’s abusive rights record in exchange for its cooperation in stopping asylum seekers and migrants.
Keeping refugees in a country that cannot be described as safe for them, and limiting access to asylum in Europe for Turkey’s own citizens when they may need it most, risks contributing to greater instability within Turkey. Will this be the EU’s poisonous contribution to Turkey’s future?
Derzeit verbiegt sich die EU für ein Abkommen mit der Türkei, das verhindern soll, dass syrische und andere Flüchtlinge, Asylsuchende und Migranten von der türkischen Küste ablegen oder die westliche Landesgrenze nach Europa überqueren. Es lohnt sich, genau darüber nachzudenken, was dabei auf dem Spiel steht.
Schon möglich, dass so ein Abkommen der EU und Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kurzfristig Vorteile verschaffen würde. Allerdings ginge es zulasten der Bemühungen der EU, die langfristigen Menschenrechtsprobleme der Türkei zu bearbeiten, die auch die regionale Stabilität gefährden. Es birgt die Gefahr, dass noch mehr Asylsuchende in der Türkei stranden, wo es kein funktionierendes Schutzsystem gibt. Außerdem setzt die EU die Reste ihres Einflusses auf Ankara in einem Moment aufs Spiel, in dem die Menschenrechte und die Rechtsstaatlichkeit im Land massiv gefährdet sind. In den 12 Jahren, in denen ich schon vor Ort zu diesen Themen arbeite, war die Lage nie brisanter.
Anders als das EU-Abkommen behauptet ist die Türkei weit davon entfernt, ein sicheres Land für geflüchtete Menschen zu sein. Vielmehr ist sie ein Land, das für seine eigenen Bürger zunehmend unsicher wird - nicht zuletzt deshalb, weil sich die politische Führung für eine repressive Einschüchterungskampagne gegen all ihre Konkurrenten und Kritiker entschieden hat.
Momentan beherbergt die Türkei mehr als zwei Millionen aus Syrien geflüchtete Menschen unter einem „temporären Schutzsystem“. Viele andere, etwa Iraker und Afghanen, haben nicht einmal diesen Status, obwohl sie auch aus Ländern stammen, aus denen viele Menschen flüchten müssen.
Zweifellos würde die Türkei von finanzieller Unterstützung der EU profitieren, um mit dieser Realität umzugehen. Dann könnten die geflüchteten Kinder in den türkischen Städten vielleicht Bildung erhalten, von denen 80% nicht zur Schule gehen. Aber unabhängig von finanziellen Anreizen bleibt die Tatsache, dass das türkische Asylsystem nicht funktioniert.
Als die Türkei der UN-Flüchtlingskonvention beitrat, versäumte es die Regierung, die ursprünglich aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg stammende, räumliche Einschränkung aufzuheben, durch die der Vertrag nur für europäische Flüchtlinge gilt. Deshalb haben Menschen, die über die südlichen oder östlichen Grenzen ins Land kommen, etwa Syrer, Iraker und Afghanen, keinen Anspruch auf Asyl oder auf einen regulären Flüchtlingsstatus. Ihre Verfahren können in der Türkei nur mit Blick auf eine zukünftige Umsiedlung in Drittstaaten bearbeitet werden, oder sie erhalten wie die Menschen aus Syrien temporären Schutz aus politischem Ermessen.
Obwohl die Türkei völkerrechtlich dazu verpflichtet ist, verfügt sie nicht über Gesetze, die nicht-europäischen Flüchtlingen all ihre Rechte garantieren oder gewährleisten, dass sie nicht in Länder abgeschoben werden, in denen ihnen Gefahr droht.
Dreh- und Angelpunkt des EU-Aktionsplans ist, Asylsuchende und Migranten in der Türkei zu halten. Ein kurzer Blick auf eine Landkarte, auf die lange, türkische Küste und auf die nahe gelegenen griechischen Inseln verdeutlicht, wie unwahrscheinlich es ist, dass die Türkei die Ausreisepläne aller Menschen vereiteln kann. Einfacher zu erreichen wäre, die Ost- und Südgrenze zu schließen. Auch das ist im Entwurf des Aktionsplans vorgesehen und soll Menschen davon abhalten, überhaupt in die Türkei einzureisen. Wahrscheinlicher ist es, dass viele in Lebensgefahr geraten.
Um alle Menschen in der Türkei zu halten, wären Maßnahmen notwendig, die weit den Kampf gegen Schlepperbanden hinaus gehen. Ein drakonisches Grenzregime müsste etabliert werden. Die Polizei müsste die ganze Küstenlinie kontrollieren und vorsorglich massenhaft Personen inhaftieren, die den Anschein erwecken, sie wollten möglicherweise das Land verlassen.
Das sind düstere Aussichten für alle, die ein bisschen Bescheid wissen über die zahlreichen Menschenrechtsverletzungen der türkischen Polizei. Von diesen schwerwiegenden Problemen schweigt die EU lieber. Umso wichtiger ist es, dass wir gerade jetzt auf sie aufmerksam werden.
Nach dem unklaren Wahlergebnis Anfang des Jahres und im Vorfeld der auf den 1. November angesetzten Neuwahlen versucht die Partei für Gerechtigkeit und Aufschwung (AKP) unter Präsident Erdoğan, ihre Macht mit allen Mitteln zu sichern. Sie geht vehement gegen die Medienfreiheit vor, distanziert sich kaum von den gewaltsamen Angriffen auf die pro-kurdische Demokratische Partei der Völker (HDP), auf die Doğan-Mediengruppe und auf einen ihrer bekanntesten Journalisten, und missbraucht die Justiz, um ihre Gegner zu verfolgen und einzusperren.
Im Sommer ließ die Regierung bewusst den bewaffneten Konflikt mit der Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans (PKK) wieder aufflammen. Zuvor gab sie einen Friedensprozess auf, den viele Menschen in der Türkei nach Jahrzehnten tödlicher Kämpfe begrüßt hatten. Da die Feindseligkeiten in Städten ausgetragen werden, zahlt die Zivilbevölkerung den Preis. In weniger als drei Monaten wurden Hunderte Menschen auf beiden Seiten getötet. Dazu kommt der Bombenanschlag in Ankara, dem 100 Personen zum Opfer fielen. Er erinnert daran, wie nah der syrische Krieg ist und wie wenig der Regierung gelingt, der Bedrohung durch ISIS Herr zu werden.
Es ist skandalös und kurzsichtig, dass die EU die massiven Probleme in der Türkei ignoriert, um ein Abkommen zu beschließen, das geflüchtete Menschen von Europa fern halten soll. Die Europäische Kommission lockt nicht nur mit Visa-Erleichterungen für türkische Staatsbürger, sondern hat auch vorgeschlagen, die Türkei zu einem sicheren Herkunftsstaat zu erklären. Dann können die Asylgesuche von Türken, zum Beispiel von Journalisten und Kurden, die vor politischer Verfolgung in die EU fliehen, standardmäßig als offensichtlich unbegründet abgelehnt werden. Dabei lag die Schutzquote für Asylsuchende aus der Türkei im Jahr 2014 bei 23 Prozent. Im gleichen Jahr stellte der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte 94 Verstöße des Landes fest.
Gerade wurde die Veröffentlichung des jährlichen Berichts der Europäischen Kommission über den Fortschritt der Türkei auf dem Weg zum EU-Beitritt auf einen Zeitpunkt nach den Neuwahlen verschoben. Auch das deutet darauf hin, dass die EU bereit ist, Menschenrechtsverletzungen unter den Teppich zu kehren, solange die Türkei sie dabei unterstützt, Asylsuchende und Migranten von der Einreise abzuhalten. Wenn die EU geflüchtete Menschen dazu zwing, in einem Land zu bleiben, in dem sie nicht sicher sind, und den Zugang zu Asyl für türkische Staatsbürger dann einschränkt, wenn sie ihn am dringendsten brauchen, dann riskiert sie, die Türkei weiter zu destabilisieren. Vergiftet Europa die Zukunft der Türkei?
cc: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Ulaştırma, Denizcilik ve Haberleşme Bakanlığı
Bizler, aşağıda imzası bulunan Türkiye ve dünyadan insan hakları, medya ve siyasal düşünce kuruluşları olarak; size, 1 Kasım 2015 genel seçimleri öncesi, bağımsız haber kuruluşları ve yurttaş gazetecilere internette uygulanan sansüre son verilmesi talebi ile yazıyoruz.
Yetkili mercilere, internet erişimi veya belli çevrimiçi hizmetlere kısıtlama getirilmesine neden olacak kararlardan kaçınma çağrısı yapıyor ve hükümete, Türkiye’de yaşayan insanların ülke sınırları söz konusu olmaksızın, bilgi ve düşünceleri her yoldan araştırma, elde etme ve yayma hakkının korunmasının anayasal görevleri olduğunu hatırlatmak istiyoruz.
5651 sayılı İnternet Ortamında Yapılan Yayınların Düzenlenmesi ve Bu Yayınlar Yoluyla İşlenen Suçlarla Mücadele Edilmesi Hakkında Kanun'un 2007 yılında yürürlüğe girmesinden bu yana, Türkiye'deki internet kullanıcıları çok çeşitli çevrimici sansür mekanizmalarına maruz kaldı. Bununla birlikte, 2013 yılından sonra hem internet üzerindeki içeriklere erişimin yasaklanması hem de içeriklerin kaldırılması talepleri ciddi oranda artış gösterdi. İnternet yasası en son 2015 Mart ayında, kamuoyuna açık hiçbir müzakere ya da tenkit şansı olmadan torba yasayla tekrar düzenlendi. Bu son yasa değişikliği; Anayasa Mahkemesi tarafından 2014 Ekim ayında Anayasaya aykırı bulunduğu için feshedilmiş hükümlere benzeyen tedbirleri uygulamaya geçirdi. [1]
Aynı zamanda Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi’nin 2012 yılında verdiği, geniş kapsamlı internet erişim yasaklarının ifade özgürlüğünü ihlal ettiğini belirten kararını da hatırlatmak isteriz. [2]
Bizler, bu çevrimiçi içeriklere erişimi engellemek üzere alınan tedbirlerin ve mahkeme kararlarının şeffaflıktan ve izlenebilirlikten uzak olmasından dolayı endişeliyiz. Gönüllü olarak yürütülen "Engelli Web" internet sitesinin verilerine göre Ekim 2015 itibariyle engellenen web sitesi sayısının 100 bini aştığı görülüyor. Listelenen engellenmiş web sitelerinin bir kısmını bağımsız medya kuruluşlarının web siteleri oluşturuyor ve bu bağımsız medya kuruluşlarının birçoğu yalnızca çevrimiçi içerikleriyle varlıklarını sürdürmekte veya temel iletişim ortamı olarak Twitter arayüzünü kullanmaktalar.
Mahkeme kararı ile uygulanan erişim engellemeleri dışında, Türkiye’deki birçok internet kullanıcısı 2015 Ekim ayında Ankara Barış Mitingi saldırılarını takiben Twitter ve Facebook gibi sosyal medya platformlarına erişmeyi denediklerinde internet erişim problemi yaşadı. Gönüllü olarak yürütülen TurkeyBlocks Projesi'nin topladığı verilere göre, sosyal medya platformlarına yavaş erişim şikayetlerinin yanında, zaman zaman erişimin neredeyse imkansiz hale geldigi anlar da oldu. Bu olaylar sosyal medya platformlarının sadece mahkeme ve TİB'in resen aldığı kararlarla değil aynı zamanda bazı hukuk dışı yöntemlerle de engellenebileceğine işaret etmektedir. Öne sürülen bu "bant genişliği kısıtlaması," yurttaşların bağımsız haber kaynaklarına ve sosyal medyaya en fazla ihtiyac duydugu dönemlerde ortaya çıkmakta ve doğrudan bilgiye erişim ve ifade özgürlüğü anayasal haklarını ihlal etmektedir.
1 Kasım günü, birçok halk tabanlı grup, siyasi parti ve haber ajansı, 1 Kasım Genel Seçimi'ne ait resmi sonuçları teyit etmek ve bilgi paylaşmında bulunmak için internet tabanlı iletişim sistemleri kullanacak.
Bağımsız medya kuruluşlarının websitelerine uygulanan erişim engellenmelerini durdurun; İnternete veya çevrimici servislere erişimi kısıtlayan engelleme talimatları vermeyeceğinizi taahhüt edin; Çevrimici iletişim ağlarının özgür ve açık kalmasını temin ederek, yurttaşların özgürce bilgi edinme ve paylaşımda bulunma haklarını güvence altına alın.
Imzalayan,
Access Now
Alternative Informatics Association - Alternatif Bilişim Derneği (Turkey)
Alternatif Medya Derneği (Turkey)
Ankara Barosu Bilişim Hukukçuları (Turkey)
ASL19
Committee To Protect Journalists
Dağ Medya (Turkey)
Demokrat Bilgisayar Mühendisleri (Turkey)
Demokrat Haber (Turkey)
dogrulukpayi.com (Turkey)
dokuz8 Haber (Turkey)
EDRi - European Digital Rights Initiative
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Elektrik Mühendisleri Odası - Chamber of Electrical Engineers (Turkey)
Free Software Foundation
Fight for the Future
Hafıza Kolektifi (Turkey)
Human Rights Watch
İnternet Teknolojileri Derneği (Turkey)
Istanbul Writers' Café (Turkey)
Jiyan.org (Turkey)
Kaos GL (Turkey)
Korsan Parti Türkiye / Pirate Party of Turkey
La Quadrature du Net
Linux Kullanıcıları Derneği (Turkey)
Mülksüzleştirme Ağları (Turkey)
Open State Foundation
Pardus Kullanıcıları Derneği (Turkey)
Punto 24 Bağımsız Gazetecilik Platformu (Turkey)
SFLC.in
The Ethical Journalism Network
The Tor Project
Tüm Internet Derneği (Turkey)
TVHI Media Lab (Turkey)
Web We Want
Zete.com (Turkey)
[1] 2014/14 E. 2014/149 K. Sayılı 2/10/2014 tarihli Anayasa Mahkemesi kararı
People wave flags and hold a portrait of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as they wait for the arrival of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, Turkey November 2, 2015.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won a fourth term in office in Turkey’s November 1 general election and has put behind it the losses suffered in the inconclusive June 7 poll. It is an astonishing turn around. In securing 49 percent of the vote, the party managed to increase its majority by nine percent in just five months. None of the polls predicted the result, and once again, Erdoğan and the AKP have confounded their critics at home and around the world.
People wave flags and hold a portrait of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as they wait for the arrival of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, Turkey November 2, 2015.
The AKP’s main electoral campaign slogan was that an AKP victory would bring stability over chaos. The message seems to have resonated with voters. The insecure environment that emerged in Turkey over the summer saw the resumption of deadly violence in the southeast of the country between security forces and the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and on October 10, an ISIS-linked bombing killed 102 people in Ankara.
In human rights terms, how can a new AKP government really bring stability over chaos and fulfill its election pledge?
Despite having contributed heavily to the descent into violence over the summer, the leaders of the new government must commit to a renewed move to curb human rights abuses against Turkey’s Kurdish population.
This will mean ending abusive police operations, which have killed and wounded scores of civilians in southeastern cities, in the effort to eradicate the PKK’s urban youth wing. It will mean investigating and ensuring full accountability for those deaths. It will also mean ending mass arrests and jailing of Kurdish political activists and elected mayors on spurious charges of terrorism and crimes against the state.
Progress will also require the new government to embark once more on a process to find a political solution with the Kurds. Political negotiations are the key to moving forward in a manner in which Turkey can protect the human rights of all its citizens.
The other major step the new government needs to take to ensure stability is to drop the revenge campaign Erdoğan and the AKP have been waging over the past three years against critics, opponents, and the media.
Revenge was never more evident than on the eve of the election, with a brutal police raid on the İpek media group and the rapid move to transform its newspapers and TV stations into government mouthpieces. The Ipek takeover is part of a relentless government policy of crackdown, which has seen critical journalists repeatedly prosecuted, media groups pressured to fire or muzzle them, websites and social media blocked, and the public’s right to access information restricted.
The İpek incident is also part of the crackdown on the supporters of the United States-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdoğan accuses of attempting to overthrow him. The AKP has accused the Gülen movement and its leader of terrorism, although they have offered no evidence of their involvement in any violent activities.
Unless the new government can get to grips with Turkey’s deteriorating human rights record, reject a resumption of violence and rights violations directed against its Kurdish population, and stop the vicious crackdown on those who don’t agree with them, it is unlikely that Turkey will be able to boast stability over chaos.
2015 Human Rights Watch