Zaman Latest Critical Voice Government Seeks to Silence
(Istanbul) – An Istanbul court on March 4, 2016 appointed government-controlled trustees to run Turkey’s wide-circulation and critical Zaman newspaper. The ruling, sought by an Istanbul prosecutor, is the latest attempt by Turkey’s president and government to silence critical media.
The appointment of trustees over the Feza Media Group, which includes Zaman newspaper, Today’s Zaman and the Cihan News Agency, amounts to a government takeover of the media group. The government should immediately reverse the action, Human Rights Watch said. On the evening of March 4, police raided the building and used teargas on people who had assembled outside to protest the takeover, television reports showed.
“The Istanbul court’s decision to appoint trustees to run Zaman newspaper and other media is nothing but a veiled move by the president to eradicate opposition media and scrutiny of government policies,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher. “This deplorable ruling, which follows the blocking of two critical TV stations, is the latest blow to free speech in Turkey.”
Istanbul’s 6th Criminal Court of the Peace issued its decision at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, who is investigating the group for connections with a US-based cleric, Fethullah Gülen, whom President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the government accuse of terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
The actions against the Feza Media Group come after the state-owned Turkish Satellite Communications Company (Türksat) ceased satellite distribution on February 26 of IMC TV at the order of an Ankara public prosecutor investigating the group for links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Bengü Türk TV, a television station close to the far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP) lost its Türksat distribution on March 1 over alleged financial difficulties.
The court’s decision to appoint trustees to the Feza Media Group follows a similar action in October 2015, when a court appointed trustees to run the Koza İpek Media Group, also associated with Fethullah Gülen supporters. On February 29, the group and its television channels and newspapers were closed down altogether.
(Brüssel) – Der EU-Deal mit der Türkei ist eine mangelhafte und potentiell gefährliche Reaktion auf die Flüchtlingsströme, die die Ägäis überqueren, so Human Rights Watch. Führende Politiker der EU und der Türkei werden am 7. März 2016 in Brüssel zusammenkommen, um die Umsetzung eines gemeinsamen Aktionsplans zu besprechen. Die EU hofft, dass mithilfe dieses Plans die Zahl der Flüchtlinge, die von der Türkei nach Griechenland kommen, begrenzt wird.
Human Rights Watch hat heute ein Dokument mit Fragen und Antworten zum Thema herausgegeben, darunter auch eine detaillierte Begründung, warum die Türkei nicht als sicheres Asylland angesehen werden soll.
„Die EU-Regierungschefs geraten in Panik und wollen noch vor dem Frühling den Flüchtlingsstrom stoppen. Hierfür sind sie anscheinend auch bereit, die Menschenrechte über Bord zu werfen“, so Judith Sunderland, stellvertretende Leiterin der Abteilung Europa von Human Rights Watch. „Zu sagen, bei der Türkei handele es sich um ein sicheres Asylland ist reines Eigeninteresse und Wunschdenken. Die Türkei ist kein sicheres Asylland und die Vereinbarung könnte weit mehr Schaden anrichten, als dass sie Gutes bewirkt.”
Im November 2015 haben die EU und die Türkei das umstrittene Abkommen unterzeichnet. Hierbei sicherte die EU der Türkei Zahlungen in Höhe von 3 Milliarden Euro zu, ebenso wie politische Zugeständnisse. Im Gegenzug soll die Türkei sich stärker bemühen, die Migrations- und Flüchtlingsströme nach Europa zu reduzieren. Die EU hat ein großes Interesse daran, dass die Türkei weitestgehend verhindert, dass Menschen sich von der türkischen Küste aus in Booten auf den Weg in die EU machen. Seit die Vereinbarung getroffen wurde, haben im Durchschnitt 2.500 Menschen täglich auf diese Weise die Ägäis überquert. Die drei Milliarden Euro sollen genutzt werden, um den Zugang zu gesundheitlicher Versorgung, Bildung und anderen Leistungen der Grundversorgung für die mehr als zwei Millionen Syrer zu verbessern, die bereits in der Türkei sind.
Die Türkei erfüllt die zwei wichtigsten Bedingungen nicht, um als sicheres Asylland eingestuft zu werden, so Human Rights Watch. Es bietet Flüchtlingen keinen effektiven Schutz und hat Asylsuchende wiederholt zurück nach Syrien abgeschoben. Die Türkei hat 1951 die Flüchtlingskonvention ratifiziert. Sie ist jedoch das einzige Land, das die Konvention geographisch begrenzt anwendet, so dass nur Europäer in der Türkei einen Flüchtlingsstatus erhalten können.
Zwar ist die Türkei großzügig mit Syrern umgegangen und hat mehr als 2 Millionen Flüchtlingen vorübergehen Schutz geboten, jedoch wird den Flüchtlingen der Zugang zu Arbeit und Bildung erheblich erschwert. Vor Kurzem hat die Türkei Syrern mit einem vorläufigen Schutzstatus das Recht eingeräumt, unter bestimmten Bedingungen zu arbeiten. Die meisten anderen Flüchtlingsgruppen, darunter Menschen aus dem Irak, Afghanistan und Iran, sind in der Türkei sind rechtlich sogar noch schlechter gestellt.
Eine stärkere Umsiedlungen von Flüchtlingen aus der Türkei könnte eine glaubhafte Alternative zu Schleusern und tödlichen Bootsüberfahrten sein, so Human Rights Watch. Verschiedene Vorschläge hierzu wurden jedoch nicht umgesetzt. Die Zahl derer, die auf diesem Weg in der EU aufgenommen wird, ist mehr als dürftig. 2015 hatten sich EU-Regierungen verpflichtet, innerhalb der folgenden zwei Jahre 22.500 Flüchtlinge aus verschiedenen Gebieten aufzunehmen. Bis Mitte Januar 2016 kamen jedoch weniger als 800 Menschen auf diesem Weg nach Europa.
Der EU-Türkei-Gipfel findet zu einer Zeit statt, in der die Spannungen an den EU-Grenzen und den Grenzen des westlichen Balkans sich verschärfen. Etwa 11.000 Migranten werden an der Grenze zwischen Griechenland und Mazedonien festgehalten. Grund hierfür sind diskriminierende Grenzbeschränkungen. Weitere Tausende sitzen in Athen oder auf griechischen Inseln fest, wo sich die humanitäre Krise immer weiter zuspitzt. Als späte, aber positive Reaktion schlug die Europäische Kommission vor, Griechenland und andere Länder mit 700 Millionen Euro zu unterstützen. So soll den betroffenen Ländern geholfen werden, den Zustrom an Flüchtlingen über die nächsten drei Jahre zu bewältigen.
Mehr als eine Million Migranten erreichten 2015 die EU-Küsten; 2016 haben bereits mehr als 130.000 Flüchtlinge das Mittelmeer überquert. Die große Mehrzahl kam hierbei über die Ägäis von der Türkei nach Griechenland. Seit dem 1. Januar 2016 sind mehr als 400 Frauen, Männer und Kinder ums Leben gekommen oder gelten als vermisst. Laut dem Hohen Flüchtlingskommissar der Vereinten Nationen stammen mehr als 90 Prozent der Menschen, die seit Anfang 2016 angekommen sind, aus einem der drei Länder mit den höchsten Flüchtlingsquoten: Syrien, Afghanistan und Irak.
„Die EU soll eine globale Führungsrolle übernehmen. Sie soll gemeinsam handeln und sich solidarisch mit den Flüchtlingen zeigen”, so Sunderland. „Die Kapazitäten von Ländern wie der Türkei zu verbessern, so dass die Flüchtlinge dort effektiv geschützt werden können ist ein lobenswertes Ziel für die Zukunft. Es ist jedoch kein Ersatz für die gemeinsame Verantwortung, Asylsuchende in Zeiten einer globalen Flüchtlingskrise anständig aufzunehmen, unterzubringen und zu versorgen.“
A Syrian family with children was forced by Macedonian security forces to remain in the no-man's land between Greece and Macedonia for five days without shelter after being caught trying to enter Macedonia irregularly. They were part of a group of 27.
(Brussels) – The European Union outline deal with Turkey announced on March 8, 2016 contradicts EU principles guaranteeing the right to seek asylum and against collective expulsions. EU and Turkish leaders meeting in Brussels announced an agreement in principle to stem migration and refugee flows from Turkey to Greece, including massive returns of all “irregular migrants” crossing into the Greek islands from Turkey.
“A fundamental contradiction lies at the heart of the EU-Turkey deal taking shape,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The parties failed to say how individual needs for international protection would be fairly assessed during the rapid-fire mass expulsions they agreed would take place.”
The agreement also says that every Syrian readmitted by Turkey would be offset by a Syrian resettled from Turkey to EU member states. This promise rests on an extremely weak foundation: by mid-January, fewer than 800 refugees had been resettled in Europe under a 2015 commitment by EU governments to resettle 22,500 refugees from various regions by the end of 2017.
Turkey cannot be regarded as a safe country of asylum for refugees from Syria, or for refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other non-European countries, according to a question-and-answer document published by Human Rights Watch in advance of the summit. Turkey has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, but is the only country in the world to apply a geographical limitation so that only Europeans can get refugee status there. It does not provide effective protection for refugees and has repeatedly pushed asylum seekers back to Syria.
“It is knowingly short-sighted for EU leaders to close their borders without considering the impact on Turkey’s borders with Syria,” said Frelick. “As EU and Turkish leaders were meeting in Brussels to agree on ways to stop ‘irregular’ migration to Greece, Turkey’s border remained closed to tens of thousands of Syrian asylum seekers fleeing the military offensive in Aleppo, exposing them to grave danger.”
The agreement includes a commitment for the EU to cooperate with Turkey in endeavors to establish so-called “safe areas” inside Syria. Human Rights Watch has warned that “the current situation in northern Syria makes clear that any ‘safe zone’ would be safe in name only and would put the lives of displaced people in danger.”
The March 8 agreement has been touted as “a breakthrough” that will stop irregular boat migration in the Aegean Sea. An average of 2,500 people have made the crossing every day since a previous EU-Turkey agreement was struck in November 2015. The 12-hour meeting that began on March 7 ended with a broad political agreement, but leaders said the details would be determined at another summit scheduled for March 17. The EU is expected to double its aid package, to €6 billion, for health care, education, and other basic services for more than two million Syrian refugees already in Turkey, and ramp up political concessions to Turkey, such as easing visa restrictions for Turkish nationals and reviving talks on Turkish accession to the EU, in exchange for stepped-up efforts to curb migration and refugee flows to Europe.
Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey, and urges the EU to address urgently these issues with Ankara.
“Refugees should not be used as bargaining chips,” Frelick said. “The integrity of the EU’s asylum system, indeed the integrity of European values, is at stake.”
Zaman - Hükümetin Son Eleştirel Sesi Susturma Hamlesi
(İstanbul) – İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, İstanbul'da bir mahkemenin 4 Mart 2016 günü Türkiye’nin muhalif yayınlarından biri olan, yüksek tirajlı Zaman Gazetesi’ne kayyım atadığını bildirdi. İstanbul'da bir savcının talebi üzerine alınan bu karar, Türkiye cumhurbaşkanının ve hükümetin muhalif medyayı susturmak için yaptıkları girişimlerin en sonuncusu.
Zaman, Today’s Zaman gazeteleri ve Cihan Haber Ajansı'nı bünyesinde barındıran Feza Medya Grubu'na kayyım atanması, hükümetin fiilen bu medya grubunu ele geçirmesi anlamına geliyor. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, hükümetin bu hareketi derhal geri alması gerektiğini söyledi. 4 Mart akşamında yayınlanan televizyon haberlerinde polisin binaya yaptığı baskınla gazeteye el konulmasını protesto etmek için dışarıda toplanan insanlara biber gazıyla müdahale ettiği görüntülere yer verildi.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü kıdemli Türkiye araştırmacısı Emma Sinclair-Webb“İstanbul’daki bir yerel mahkemenin Zaman Gazetesi ve diğer medya kuruluşlarının yönetimine kayyım atama kararı, cumhurbaşkanının muhalif medyayı susturma ve hükümet politikalarının denetlenmesini engelleme çabasını perdelemek için geliştirdiği bir paravandan ibarettir. İki TV kanalının engellenmesinin ardından gelen bu vahim karar Türkiye'de ifade özgürlüğüne vurulan yeni bir darbedir” dedi.
İstanbul 6. Sulh Ceza Mahkemesi bu kararı, grubun ABD'de yaşayan din adamı Fethullah Gülen'le bağlantılarını soruşturan İstanbul Cumhuriyet Savcılığı’nın talebi üzerine aldı. Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ve hükümet, Fethullah Gülen'i terörizmle ve hükümete karşı darbe girişiminde bulunmakla suçluyor.
Feza Medya Grubu'na yönelik bu hamle, 26 Şubat'ta devlete ait Türksat'ın, IMC TV'yi grubun yasadışı Kürdistan İşçi Partisi'yle (PKK) bağlarını soruşturan Ankara Cumhuriyet Savcılığı’nın talebiyle uydu dağıtımından çıkarmasının ardından gerçekleştirildi. Aşırı sağcı Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi'ne (MHP) yakın bir televizyon kanalı olan Bengü Türk TV de maddi zorluklar yaşadığı iddiasıyla Türksat üzerinden dağıtım hakkını kaybetti.
Mahkemenin Feza Medya Grubu'na kayyım atama kararı, Ekim 2015'te başka bir mahkeme kararıyla yine Fethullah Gülen destekçileriyle bağlantılı olan Koza İpek Medya Grubu'na kayyım atanmasının ardından gerçekleşti. 29 Şubat'ta grupla birlikte televizyon kanalları ve gazeteleri tamamen kapatıldı.
Une famille syrienne faisant partie d’un groupe de 27 personnes ayant rejoint la Macédoine, bloquée dans la zone « no man’s land » située entre ce pays et la Grèce, début mars 2016.
(Bruxelles) – Les grandes lignes de l'accord conclu entre l’Union européenne et la Turquie annoncées mardi 8 mars 2016 sont en contradiction avec les principes de l'UE garantissant le droit d’asile et interdisant les expulsions collectives, a déclaré Human Rights Watch aujourd'hui. Les responsables turcs et européens réunis à Bruxelles ont annoncé un accord de principe visant à contenir les flux de migrants et de réfugiés de la Turquie vers la Grèce, notamment les reconduites massives de tous les « migrants irréguliers » rejoignant les îles grecques en bateau depuis la Turquie.
« Une contradiction fondamentale réside au cœur de l’accord qui se dessine entre l’Union européenne et la Turquie », a déclaré Bill Frelick, directeur de la division Droits des réfugiés à Human Rights Watch. « Les parties ne sont pas parvenues à indiquer de quelle manière les besoins individuels de protection internationale seraient équitablement évalués lors des expulsions massives accélérées auxquelles elles ont convenu de procéder. »
L'accord prévoit également que pour chaque Syrien réadmis par la Turquie, un Syrien serait réinstallé depuis la Turquie vers les États membres de l'UE. Cette promesse repose sur un socle extrêmement faible : à la mi-janvier 2016, moins de 800 personnes avaient été réinstallées en Europe en vertu d’un engagement pris en 2015 par les gouvernements de l’UE de réinstaller 22 500 réfugiés venant de diverses régions d'ici la fin de 2017.
La Turquie ne peut pas être considérée comme un pays d'asile sûr pour les réfugiés en provenance de Syrie ou pour ceux originaires d'Irak, d'Afghanistan et d'autres pays non européens, selon un document de questions/réponses publié par Human Rights Watch en amont du sommet. La Turquie a ratifié la Convention de 1951 relative aux réfugiés, mais elle est le seul pays au monde à imposer une restriction géographique selon laquelle seuls les Européens peuvent obtenir le statut de réfugié dans le pays. Elle n’apporte pas de protection efficace aux réfugiés et a continuellement repoussé les demandeurs d’asile vers la Syrie.
« Les dirigeants de l'UE font sciemment preuve de l'adoption d'une vision étroite en fermant leurs frontières sans tenir compte des répercussions sur les frontières entre la Turquie et la Syrie », a ajouté Bill Frelick. « Tandis que les responsables de l'UE et de la Turquie se réunissaient à Bruxelles pour endiguer les flux de migration "irrégulière" vers la Grèce, les frontières turques sont demeurées fermées à des dizaines de milliers de demandeurs d’asile fuyant l'offensive militaire à Alep, les exposant à de graves dangers. »
L'accord prévoit un engagement de l'UE aux fins de coopération avec la Turquie dans le cadre d'efforts visant à établir des zones dites « de sécurité » en Syrie. Human Rights Watch a averti que « la situation actuelle qui règne en Syrie est une preuve évidente du fait qu'une zone dite "de sécurité"ne le serait que de nom et qu'elle mettrait en danger la vie des personnes déplacées ».
L'accord du 8 mars 2016 a été présenté comme « une avancée » qui contiendra la migration irrégulière en mer Égée ; 2 500 personnes par jour en moyenne ont entamé une traversée depuis la conclusion d'un précédent accord entre l’UE et la Turquie en novembre 2015. La réunion d'une durée de 12 heures démarrée le 7 mars s'est conclue par un accord politique global, mais les responsables ont déclaré que les détails seraient définis lors d'un prochain sommet prévu le 17 mars. L'UE devrait vraisemblablement doubler son plan d'aide à hauteur de 6 milliards d'euros pour améliorer l’accès aux services de santé, à l’éducation et à d’autres services de base pour plus de 2 millions de réfugiés syriens se trouvant déjà en Turquie. Elle devrait aussi accélérer les concessions politiques accordées à la Turquie comme l'assouplissement de l'obtention du visa pour les ressortissants turcs et la relance des négociations sur l'adhésion de la Turquie au sein de l'UE en échange de l'intensification des efforts visant à endiguer les flux de migrants et de réfugiés vers l'Europe.
« Les réfugiés ne doivent pas servir de monnaie d'échange », a conclu Bill Frelick. « L'intégrité du système d'asile de l'UE, et plus encore, celle des valeurs européennes, sont en jeu. »
Plus de 800 000 demandeurs d’asile et migrants ont rejoint l'Europe par la mer en 2015, tandis que des milliers d’autres personnes ont perdu la vie en tentant la traversée dangereuse. Tout au long de l'année, face à cette grave crise humanitaire, HRW a appelé l’UE à prendre certaines mesures concrètes visant à renforcer le respect des droits humains fondamentaux.
(Istanbul) – In the latest attack on free speech in Turkey, three academics who signed a peace petition in January 2016 have been jailed by an Istanbul court on suspicion of “making terrorist propaganda.” The three were jailed on March 15, 2016, pending the completion of a criminal investigation.
At least 30 other academics have been dismissed and 27 suspended by their universities pending investigation. The Istanbul prosecutor responsible for terrorism crimes is conducting a criminal investigation into all the academics who signed the petition and many local investigations are taking place.
“President Erdogan’s vicious campaign against the academics is part of his drive to banish, punish, and silence all critical voices in Turkey,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Turkey’s universities, prosecutors, and courts should respect and protect free speech and the rule of law by immediately dropping all investigations and punitive measures against all those who signed the declaration.”
The petition at issue, initially signed by 1,128 academics calling themselves Academics for Peace and then by more than 1,000 others, declared “We will not be party to this crime.” They condemned the Turkish government’s security operations against the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) youth movement in cities of southeast Turkey because of the disastrous impact on the Kurdish civilian population. Made public at an Istanbul news conference on January 11, the petition also called for a resumption of peace talks with the PKK.
In response, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unleashed a harsh campaign vilifying the academics in at least five speeches – terming them vile, equal to terrorists, base and dark – and demanding sanctions against them. Human Rights Watch spoke to 12 petition signatories about the criminal and disciplinary investigations against them, the threats they received, and their suspensions and dismissals.
The three academics placed in pretrial detention today are Muzaffer Kaya, Esra Mungan and Kıvanç Ersoy. Ersoy teaches in the mathematics department at Mimar Sinan University and Mungan in the psychology department at Boğaziçi University. Kaya was recently dismissed from the social work department at Nişantaşı University for signing the petition. They were detained and then jailed by a court a day after Erdoğan called for the crime of terrorism to be widened to include expression which he judges “serves the aims of terrorists,” and which would target professions such as journalists, politicians and activists. His remarks came after the March 13 bombing which killed 37 people in Ankara’s city center.
“The three jailed academics have committed no crime and should be immediately released,” said Sinclair-Webb. “Imprisoning advocates for peace who have criticized government policy not only flouts international standards, but will do nothing to prevent terrorism or bring justice for the victims of the Ankara bombing.”
Universities should also promptly reinstate the academics who have been dismissed or suspended pending investigation, and prosecutors should ensure that the courts promptly lift overseas travel bans they have imposed on six of the signatories, Human Rights Watch said.
Over the past two months, police have detained around 15 academics for short periods and in some cases searched academics’ homes and offices. An Istanbul prosecutor is conducting a criminal investigation into all signatories on suspicion that they “made terrorism propaganda” and “insulted the Turkish nation or state institutions,” and there are many ongoing investigations opened by prosecutors throughout the country. The Council of Higher Education, which oversees Turkey’s higher education system, pushed universities to investigate those who signed the petition.
The legal basis for suspending academics is not clear in university regulations, and universities have in many cases not provided grounds for the suspensions and dismissals. All the academics Human Rights Watch spoke to described being questioned by prosecutors about their political views, a line of inquiry completely unrelated to exercising their legitimate right to free speech by signing the petition.
Among those Human Rights Watch interviewed are:
Latife Akyüz: On January 13, Düzce University in northwest Turkey suspended Akyüz, an assistant professor of sociology, a day after President Erdoğan’s first speech. Akyüz learnt from the university website that the university had suspended her and was not sent a formal notification until a month later. On January 14, police searched her home and office at the university and took copies of her computer hard drive and other belongings. After she testified before the Düzce public prosecutor on January 16, a court imposed a travel ban on her, which was upheld on appeal. Following threats on social media and a report about her in the local media, Akyüz left Düzce. She told Human Rights Watch: “My friends cleared and emptied my home in Düzce. It’s no longer possible for me to live in that house or city.”
Sharo Garip: On January 15, police from the Anti-Terror Branch detained Garip, associate professor of sociology at Van 100 Yil University, in eastern Turkey, and held him overnight in a police cell. On January 16, he testified before the Van prosecutor, who had him taken before a judge to seek an overseas travel ban pending completion of a criminal investigation. The court released Garip, a German national, and did not impose a travel ban. However, the prosecutor appealed and Garip learned on February 13 that a ban had been imposed. The university employed Garip on an annual contract that was due for renewal on December 31, 2015. On January 25, the university informed him, without providing a reason, that his contract was not being renewed. He is now unemployed and cannot return to Germany because of the travel ban.
Among the others who signed at Van 100 Yıl University, Eylem Kılıç, associate professor in the education faculty; Sebahattin Şen, researcher in the radio and television branch of the fine arts faculty; and Turan Keskin, researcher in the economics department, were also informed in February that they were banned by a court from overseas travel pending the completion of the ongoing criminal investigations against them.
Ramazan Kurt: Erzurum Atatürk University in eastern Turkey suspended Kurt, a researcher in the Faculty of Social Studies in the second year of a philosophy doctorate, for signing the petition. He told Human Rights Watch that on January 13 he received threats, including by telephone, visits to his office, a social media campaign against him, and a protest by a far-right group and students. He complained to the prosecutor and requested police protection, but the police said they could not provide protection and he could call them if anything happened to him. He went with this lawyer to the police, after hearing they were seeking to detain him, and then testified before the prosecutor, who asked the court to jail him pending completion of a criminal investigation. The court released him but imposed an overseas travel ban.
Eda Erdener: an associate professor in the Psychology Department of the Arts and Science at Bingöl University in eastern Turkey, Erdener said that in response to signing the petition Bingöl University has subjected her to three investigations. She testified before the public prosecutor in January and, like others questioned by prosecutors, was repeatedly asked questions about her political views and motivation for signing the petition.
Nil Mutluer: assistant professor and head of the sociology department at Nişantaşı University, Istanbul, Mutluer was fired on February 8, along with five other academics at the university - Çetin Gürer, Dilşa Deniz, Melih Kırlıdoğ, Muzaffer Kaya, Selim Eyüboğlu. The decision to terminate their contracts was made unilaterally by the Board of Trustees, whose chairman had previously publicly told the academics to resign for signing the petition. The pro-government daily newspaper Yeni Akit singled out a small group of academics in various universities, including Mutluer, for a front-page lead article including their photos and names, and falsely accused them of being members of a terrorist organization.
(İstanbul) - İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü bugün bir açıklama yaparak, Türkiye'de ifade özgürlüğüne yönelik en son saldırıda, Ocak 2016'da barış için bir dilekçeye imza veren üç akademisyenin İstanbul'da bir mahkeme tarafından "terör propagandası" yaptıkları iddiasıyla tutuklandığını söyledi. Üç akademisyen, haklarındaki ceza soruşturmasının tamamlanmasının ardından 15 Mart 2016'da gözaltına alınmıştı.
En az 30 akademisyen işten çıkartıldı ve 27 akademisyen de açılan soruşturmalar sonuçlanana dek üniversitelerindeki görevlerinden uzaklaştırıldı. Açılan çok sayıdaki yerel soruşturmaya ek olarak, terörizm ve örgütlü suçlardan sorumlu İstanbul Cumhuriyet Savcısı da, bildiriyi imzalayan herkes hakkında bir ceza soruşturması başlattı.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü Türkiye araştırmacısı Emma Sinclair-Webb, “Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’ın akademisyenlere karşı başlattığı bu kötü ve saldırgan kampanya, Türkiye’deki tüm eleştirel sesleri yasaklamaya, cezalandırmaya ve nihayet susturmaya yönelik seferberliğinin bir parçası” diyor ve ilave ediyor: “Türkiye’nin üniversiteleri, savcıları ve mahkemeleri bildiriyi imzalayanlara karşı açılmış bütün soruşturmalardan ve uygulanan cezai yaptırımlardan hemen vazgeçmeli ve böylece ifade özgürlüğü ve hukukun üstünlüğü ilkelerine uyduklarını ve bu ilkeleri koruduklarını göstermelidir.”
Söz konusu bildiri, ilk aşamada, kendilerine Barış İçin Akademisyenler adını veren 1128 akademisyen tarafından imzalandı, bu sayıya daha sonra 1000’in üzerinde yeni imzacı eklendi. Söz konusu bildiri, Türkiye Hükümetinin ülkenin güneydoğusundaki kentlerde silahlı Kürdistan İşçi Partisi (PKK) gençlik hareketi’ne karşı yürüttüğü güvenlik operasyonlarını, bu operasyonların sivil Kürt nüfus üzerindeki korkunç etkileri nedeniyle kınıyor ve “Bu Suça Ortak Olmayacağız” başlığını taşıyor. İstanbul ve Ankara’da 11 Ocak günü yapılan iki basın toplantısıyla kamuoyuna duyurulan bildiri, aynı zamanda PKK ile yapılan barış görüşmelerinin de yeniden başlaması çağrısında bulunuyor.
Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan bu bildiriye akademisyenleri itibarsızlaştırmaya yönelik çok sert ve hırçın bir kampanya başlatarak yanıt verdi; konu hakkında yaptığı en az beş konuşmada, imzacı akademisyenler hakkında alçak, teröristlerle eş değer, adi ve karanlık gibi ifadeler kullandı ve onlara karşı yaptırım uygulanmasını talep etti. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü, 12 imzacı ile görüşerek, onlarla haklarında açılmış ceza ve disiplin soruşturmaları, aldıkları tehditler, işten uzaklaştırılmaları ve çıkartılmaları hakkında konuştu. İşten çıkarılan ve uzaklaştırılan akademisyenlerin sayısını Barış İçin Akademisyenler verdi.
Bugün tutuklanan akademisyenlerden Kıvanç Ersoy Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi matematik bölümünde, Esra Mungan ise Boğaziçi Üniversitesi psikoloji bölümünde öğretim üyesi. Muzaffer Kaya ise kısa süre önce, dilekçeyi imzaladığı için Nişantaşı Üniversitesi'ndeki görevinden uzaklaştırılmıştı. Akademisyenler, Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'ın terörün tanımının "teröristlerin amaçlarına hizmet edenler" olarak tanımladığı ve gazeteciler, politikacılar ve aktivistler gibi kişileri hedef alacak şekilde genişletilmesi gerektiğini söylemesinden bir gün sonra gözaltına alınarak tutuklandı. Erdoğan bu konuşmayı 13 Mart'ta Ankara'nın merkezinde 37 kişinin ölümüyle sonuçlanan bombalı saldırının ardından yapmıştı.
Sinclair-Webb, "Hapsedilen üç akademisyen herhangi bir suç işlememiştir ve derhal serbest bırakılmalıdır. Hükümet politikalarını eleştiren barış savunucularının hapsedilmesi sadece uluslararası standartları ihlal etmekle kalmıyor. Bu durum ne terörün önlenmesine, ne de Ankara saldırısı kurbanlarına adalet sağlanmasına bir katkısı olacak" dedi.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’ne göre üniversiteler işten çıkardıkları veya görevden uzaklaştırdıkları akademisyenleri hiç vakit kaybetmeksizin görevlerine iade etmeli ve savcılar da mahkemelerin koyduğu yurtdışına çıkış yasaklarının kaldırılmasını temin etmeli.
Geçtiğimiz iki ay içerisinde, polis 15’e kadar akademisyeni kısa süreliğine gözaltına aldı ve bazı vakalarda akademisyenlerin evlerinde ve ofislerinde arama yaptı. İstanbul’da bir savcı, akademisyenlerin “terörizm propagandası yaptıkları” ve “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devletini, Devletin kurum ve organlarını aşağıladıkları” kuşkusuyla bir ceza soruşturması başlattı, ayrıca ülkenin değişik yerlerinde de sürmekte olan çok sayıda soruşturma var. Türkiye’nin yüksek öğrenim sistemini denetlemekle görevli Yüksek Öğrenim Kurulu (YÖK), bildiriye imza atan akademisyenler hakkında soruşturma açmaları için üniversitelere baskı yapıyor.
Akademisyenleri görevden uzaklaştırmanın hukuki zemini, yüksek öğrenim mevzuatında açık değil ve çoğu vakada üniversiteler görevden uzaklaştırma ve işten çıkarma kararlarına ilişkin bir hukuki dayanak sunmuş değiller. İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’nün konuştuğu akademisyenlerin tümü, savcılar tarafından siyasi görüşleri hakkında sorgulandıklarını belirttiler ki bildiriyi imzalayarak ifade özgürlüklerini kullanan akademisyenler açısından, bu yönde bir sorgulama tümüyle konu dışı.
İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’nün görüştüğü akademisyenlerden bazıları şunlar:
· Latife Akyüz: Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’ın ilk konuşmasını yapmasından bir gün sonra, 13 Ocakt’ta, Düzce Üniversitesi sosyoloji yardımcı doçenti Latife Akyüz’ü görevinden uzaklaştırdı. Akyüz görevden uzaklaştırıldığını üniversitenin web sayfasından öğrendi, kendisine bir ay boyunca konu ile ilgili herhangi bir resmi tebligat yapılmadı. Polis 14 Ocakta kendisinin evini üniversitedeki ofisini aradı ve bilgisayar hard diskinin kopyasını ve diğer bazı eşyalarını aldı. 16 Ocakta Düzce Cumhuriyet savcısına ifade verdikten sonra bir mahkeme kendisi hakkında yurtdışına çıkış yasağı kararı aldı, bu karara yapılan itiraz da reddedildi. Sosyal medyada tehdit edilmesi ve yerel medyada kendisi hakkında bir haber yapılması üzerine, Akyüz Düzce’yi terketti. Akyüz İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’ne “Düzce'deki evimi arkadaşlarım toplayıp, boşalttılar. O evde ve o şehirde yaşayabilmem mümkün değil artık.” dedi.
· Sharo Garip: 15 Ocak günü terörle mücadele şubesinden polisler, Van 100. Yıl üniversitesinde sosyoloji doçenti olarak çalışan Garip’i gözaltına aldılar ve bir gece nezarette tuttular. 16 Ocak’ta Van savcısına ifade verdi, savcılık onu ceza soruşturması tamamlanana dek yurt dışına çıkış yasağı konması talebiyle mahkemeye sevketti. Mahkeme, Alman vatandaşı olan Garip’i serbest bıraktı ve yurt dışına çıkış yasağı koymadı. Ancak savcılık mahkemenin bu kararına itiraz etti ve Garip 13 Şubat günü yurt dışına çıkışının yasaklandığını öğrendi. Üniversite Garip’i bir yıllık bir sözleşme ile işe almıştı ve sözleşmenin 31 Aralık 2015 tarihinde yenilenmesi gerekiyordu. 25 Ocak tarihinde üniversite kendisine, hiç bir gerekçe sunmaksızın, sözleşmesinin yenilenmeyeceğini bildirdi. Kendisi şu anda işsiz ve yurt dışına çıkışı yasak olduğu için, Almanya’ya da geri dönemiyor.
· Van 100. Yıl Üniversitesindeki diğer imzacılardan, eğitim fakültesi doçenti Eylem Kılıç’a; Güzel Sanatlar fakültesi radyo ve televizyon bölümü araştırma görevlisi Sebahattin Şen’e; ve ekonomi bölümü araştırma görevlisi Turan Keskin’e de, şubat ayında, haklarında açılmış ceza soruşturması sonuçlanana dek, yurt dışına çıkışlarını yasaklayan bir mahkeme kararı bulunduğu bildirilmiş.
· Erzurum Atatürk Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi araştırma görevlisi ve felsefe doktorası ikinci sınıf öğrencisi Ramazan Kurt’u bildiriyi imzaladığı için görevinden uzaklaştırdı. Kendisi İnsan Hakları İzleme Örgütü’ne, aşırı sağcı bir grup tarafından, telefonla aranarak, ofisine gelinerek ve kendisine karşı başlatılan bir sosyal medya kampanyası yoluyla tehdit edildiğini anlattı. Kurt konu ile ilgili olarak savcılığa şikayette bulunmuş ve polis koruması talep etmiş, ancak emniyet ona koruma veremeyeceğini, başına bir şey gelirse polisi arayabileceğini söylemiş. Kurt gözaltına alınmak üzere polis tarafından arandığını öğrendikten sonra, avukatı ile birlikte emniyete gitmiş ve daha sonra savcıya ifade vermiş; savcı Kurt’u ceza soruşturması sonuçlanana dek tutuklanması talebiyle mahkemeye sevketmiş. Mahkeme Kurt’u serbest bırakmış ama yurt dışına çıkış yasağı koymuş.
· Türkiye’nin doğusundaki Bingöl Üniversitesi’nin Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Psikoloji Bölümü doçenti Eda Erdener, bildiriyi imzaladığı için Bingöl Üniversitesi’nin kendisini üç kez soruşturduğunu anlattı. Kendisi ocak ayında savcılıkta ifade vermiş, ve savcılar tarafından ifadesi alınan diğer imzacı akademisyenler gibi, ona da tekrar tekrar siyasi görüşleri ve bildiriyi hangi saikle imzaladığı sorulmuş.
· 8 Şubat’ta Nişantaşı Üniversitesi’nin sosyoloji bölümü başkanı, yardımcı doçent Nil Mutluer, ünivesitedeki diğer beş imzacı akademisyenle birlikte (Çetin Gürer, Dilşa Deniz, Melih Kırlıdoğ, Muzaffer Kaya, Selim Eyüboğlu) işten çıkartıldı. Söz konusu akademisyenlerin iş akitlerinin fesih edilmesi kararı, tek yanlı olarak, mütevelli heyeti tarafından alındı. Mütevelli heyeti başkanı, daha önce de, kamuoyuna yaptığı bir açıklamayla bu akademisyenleri bildiriyi imzaladıkları için istifa etmeye davet etmişti. Hükümet yanlısı Yeni Akit gazetesi aralarında Mutluer’in de bulunduğu farklı üniversitelerden küçük bir grup imzacı akademisyeni ön plana çıkartarak, birinci sayfada manşetten verdiği bir haberde bu akademisyenlerin isimlerini ve fotoğraflarını yayınladı. Söz konusu haberde bu isimler, tümüyle temelsiz bir şekilde, bir terör örgütünün üyesi olmakla suçlandı.
By Kenneth Roth, Salil Shetty & Catherine Woollard
Let’s not confuse desperation for legality when it comes to Europe’s proposed refugee deal with Turkey. No one should be under any illusion - the very principle of international protection for those fleeing war and persecution is at stake.
Every government in Europe will have to declare its hand this week: does it uphold the right to seek asylum, or does it subordinate that right to horse trading with a country that has an inadequate record of respecting it.
This new proposal is only the latest in a dangerous trend. Over the past few months, various European governments have imposed discriminatory border closures and unlawful caps on asylum applications. The result is a deepening humanitarian disaster for thousands of refugees trapped in Greece, a surge in alarmist, vitriolic rhetoric stigmatizing asylum seekers and migrants.
EU leaders hit a new low last week by proposing that Turkey accept fast-track mass returns of boat migrants from Greece and a plan to resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey for each irregularly arriving Syrian returned from Greece in exchange for €6 billion, promises of visa-free travel for Turkish nationals, and revival of EU accession talks.
We favor large-scale resettlement of refugees to Europe and elsewhere as the best way to remove the need for desperate refugees to take the dangerous step of boarding rickety boats across the Mediterranean and act in concrete solidarity with those countries hosting the vast majority of the world’s refugees, including Turkey. But EU leaders should reject any linkage of resettlement for some refugees to the blocking of access to a fair asylum procedure for other refugees.
While insisting on the right of those who arrive irregularly on Europe’s shores to a full and fair hearing of any asylum claim, we recognize that those who fail after a fair process to demonstrate a legitimate case to stay can be returned. Our objection is to fast-track collective expulsions that fail to take individual circumstances into account.
The breach of the right to seek asylum is not mitigated by the fiction that Turkey is a “safe” country for refugees. Turkey has granted “temporary protection” to more than two million Syrians, but it still refuses effective protection in practice to non-Europeans including Afghans, Iraqis and others applying for it. Turkey has also repeatedly pushed Syrians back into the war zone and closed borders to others seeking to flee.
Meanwhile, all refugees in Turkey are struggling to find work, educate their children, and build dignified lives—essential elements of a “safe” refuge.
To make matters worse, Turkey’s president and government have embarked on an intense crackdown on human rights. The breakdown of the Kurdish peace process and extended security operations in the south east, along with nationwide repression of critics, political opposition and media perceived as hostile to the government, may soon add Turkish nationals to the refugee flows.
In their determination to sidestep their responsibilities in the face of the biggest global refugee crisis since World War II, EU leaders have been mute in their response to these trends in the misguided hope of securing Turkey’s co-operation in stopping the boats.
The best way to fight the demagogues in Europe who are currently profiting from the chaos in the Aegean is not to indulge their disregard for international law, but to offer sustainable, principled solutions. These exist. The flow of boats can be substantially eased by expanding resettlement directly from countries of first refuge to reduce the need to board a boat, investing in those countries so refugees can lead a dignified life there, and redoubling efforts to stop the atrocities in places like Syria that drive the refugees to flee in the first place.
(Istanbul) – A court ruling on March 25, 2016 to close the criminal trial of two journalists to the public undermines the rights of the defendants to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said today.
Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 14 ruled that the entire trial of Can Dündar, editor of the daily Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gül, the newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, on charges of obtaining and revealing state secrets for the purpose of espionage, should be closed to the public and the media on the grounds that some of the evidence pertained to state secrets. Lawyers acting for Dündar and Gül had argued that it was reasonable only to hold a closed hearing to discuss any evidence relating to state secrets but not to hold all trial hearings behind closed doors.
“The court’s decision to hold hearings in secret limits public scrutiny of a critical case and the administration of justice; directly undermining the defendants’ right to a fair trial,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The decision also ignores the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights that any exclusion of the public from a trial must be exceptional and narrowly tailored to balance national security with the public interest in justice.”
The court also ruled that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT) could be interested parties (complainants) in the case, a decision that implies they are the directly injured parties. This exceptional step constitutes an undue interference in the independence of the judicial process and could lead to a violation of the right of the defendants to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said.
Turkey is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights; the right to a fair trial as articulated in the Convention is binding on Turkey and its courts. In this regard, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly emphasized to states that the public character of proceedings protecting against the administration of justice in secret is important to ensure confidence in the courts and contributes to a fair trial, “the guarantee of which is one of the fundamental principles of any democratic society.”
The court has noted that security concerns alone justifying excluding the public from a trial are rare and even then, security measures should be narrowly tailored and comply with the principle of necessity. Specifically, the court has noted that, “The mere presence of classified information in the case file does not automatically imply a need to close a trial to the public without balancing openness with national-security concerns. Before excluding the public from criminal proceedings, courts must make specific findings that closure is necessary to protect a compelling governmental interest, and must limit secrecy to the extent necessary to preserve such an interest.”
After the court ruled that the entire trial was to be held in camera, a number of members of parliament observing the trial refused to leave the courtroom. In response, the judges postponed the trial to April 1, and lodged a complaint against the members of parliament for attempting to influence a judicial process.
Syrians arrive at a camp for internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Azaz town, 5 kilometers south of Bab al-Salam and Turkey’s closed Öncüpınar border post on February 6, 2016.
(Geneva) – Representatives of 92 countries failed to pledge more than a slight increase in resettlement places for Syrian refugees at a high-level UN meeting on March 30, 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the meeting’s host, had asked for a dramatic increase in resettlement pledges, to 480,000, for Syrian refugees over the next three years.
Countries have made a total of 179,000 pledges for Syrian resettlement and other forms of legal admission since 2013. As of the end of February, only 25,142 people had actually been admitted in response to those pledges. But the high-level meeting produced pledges for only 6,000 more refugee and humanitarian admissions.
“The Syrian refugee conference might more accurately have been named ‘Global Responsibility Avoidance,’” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, which are carrying the load for the rest of the world on Syrian refugees, didn’t even leave with so much as empty promises, as one government after another backed off.”
UNHCR had called for a combination of resettlement pledges and other safe and legal pathways, such as humanitarian visas and private sponsorship, to accommodate 10 percent of the 4.8 million Syrian refugees in the region. The meeting fell well short of that goal. Key resettlement countries, such as the United States and Australia, made no additional pledges over existing commitments. Other important countries, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, have made no refugee resettlement pledges whatsoever – Russia said it would provide 300 student scholarships and Saudi Arabia said it already hosts one million Syrian “guests.” Last July, the European Union agreed to resettle 22,500 Syrian refugees from the region over the next two years. As of today, 4,555 have been admitted.
The backdrop to the Geneva meeting is the European Union-Turkey agreement, which calls for the return of all Syrian refugees arriving irregularly on the Greek islands, while resettling one other Syrian refugee in Turkey for each one sent back there.
In addressing the high-level meeting, the high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said, “Opening safe and regular pathways for admission can never be a substitute for countries’ fundamental responsibilities under international law toward people directly seeking asylum on their territory.”
A banner hung on a hotel reads "Turkey is not safe" during a protest against the return of migrants to Turkey, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 4, 2016.
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A banner hung on a hotel reads "Turkey is not safe" during a protest against the return of migrants to Turkey, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 4, 2016.
The first returns of migrants - including perhaps some asylum seekers - from Greece to Turkey seem as dodgy as the EU-Turkey deal itself. And it will likely get worse.
Migrants look through a fence from inside the closed Moria registration centre for refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece April 4, 2016.
On the island of Lesbos, the EU and Greece staged a show for the media, presenting the process as legal and humane. All of the 135 deportees from the island – mostly Pakistanis – had ostensibly declined the opportunity to seek asylum. So did the two Syrians who wanted to return to Turkey, the EU said.
But, truth is, we really don’t know. The police kept human rights monitors and journalists away.
On Lesbos, at least 3,000 people from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are now locked behind three layers of barbed wire fence at the so-called Moria Hot Spot. Through the fence we spoke briefly with two Syrians who both said they had close family members in Germany.
A banner hung on a hotel reads "Turkey is not safe" during a protest against the return of migrants to Turkey, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 4, 2016.
One of them, a 17 year-old boy, is young enough for a chance at reunification with his sister, but he didn't know how to apply for this. The authorities had given them a document in Greek that the Syrians mistakenly thought was an asylum application. After 10 minutes, the police ordered us away from the fence.
Access to these people is crucial to ensure that all those who want to make an asylum claim can do so in a language they understand, and with a right to appeal. People with family members already in Europe, including children, need to be able to request reunification.
Today, the EU returned to Turkey the people who, the authorities say, declined to seek asylum. Soon, the EU plans to tell Syrians and others who do want to apply for asylum here that they cannot, and ship them back. By then, the cameras may be gone.
(إسطنبول) – على تركياالكف عن إطلاق النار على المدنيين السوريينالذين يفرون من القتال، وأن تسمح لهم فورا بعبور الحدود لالتماس الحماية. أدى تجدد القتال بين داعش وجماعات المعارضة المسلحة شمالي حلب إلى نزوح ما لا يقل عن 30 ألف شخص خلال الـ 48 ساعة الماضية، مع إطلاق حرس الحدود الأتراك النار على بعضهم عند اقترابهم من الجدار الحدودي التركي الجديد.
ما زالت الحدود التركية مغلقة تماما بعد عاممن بدء رفض السلطات التركية دخول جميع السوريين، باستثناء المصابين إصابات خطيرة. سبق وأشارتتركيا لأنها تريد تهيئة "منطقة آمنة"في سوريا يمكن على حد زعمها للسوريين الفرار إليها، ويمكن لتركيا أن تعيد إليها لاجئين سوريين. قالالاتحاد
الأوروبيفي اتفاقه المبرم في 8 مارس/آذار 2016 مع تركيا إنه سيعمل معها على "السماح للسكان المحليين واللاجئين بالعيش في مناطق أكثر أمنا".
قال جيري سيمبسون، باحث أول في شؤون اللاجئين في هيومن رايتس ووتش: "مع فرار المدنيين من مقاتلي داعش، ترد تركيا بالذخيرة الحية بدلا من التعاطف. العالم بأسره يتحدث عن قتال داعش، لكن الأكثر عرضة لخطر داعش ومن وقعوا ضحايا لانتهاكاتهم المروعة عالقين على الجانب الخطأ من جدار خرساني".
بحسب عاملين بالمساعدات الإنسانية في تركيا ورؤساء 6 من 10 مخيمات للاجئين شرقي أعزاز قرب الحدود التركية، فإن زحف داعش في 13 و14 أبريل/نيسان أجبر ما لا يقل عن نصف سكان المخيمات البالغ عددهم 60 ألف نسمة على الفرار. فروا إلى مخيمات أخرى، إلى مخيم باب السلامة على الحدود التركية وبلدة أعزاز القريبة. أصبحت 3 مخيمات – هي أكدة وحرمين والشام – خالية تماما من 24 ألف شخص كانوا يحتمون بها.
تحدثت هيومن رايتس ووتش في 14 أبريل/نيسان إلى ممثلين عن 6 من 10 مخيمات وإلى 7 سوريين نازحين كانوا يعيشون في المخيمات التي سيطرت داعش عليها وكانت قريبة من جبهة قتال داعش التي تتغير سريعا. قال جميع السكان إنهم يريدون الفرار لتركيا لكن الحدود المغلقة تعني أن لا مكان أمامهم يفرون إليه. قال البعض إنهم مكثوا بالمخيمات الخاضعة لتهديد داعش لأنهم خافوا من عدم العثور على مأوى بمكان آخر، وهم يعرفون أن المخيمات الأخرى على الحدود التركية ممتلئة تماما. قال آخرون إنهم عادوا إلى قراهم القريبة رغم أنها مازالت غير آمنة.
قال مدير مخيم إيكدة الواقع قرب الحدود التركية إن داعش سيطرت على المخيم الذي يأوي أقل من 10 آلاف نسمة بقليل، في ساعة مبكرة من 14 أبريل/نيسان، وأطلقوا الرصاص الحي في الهواء وقالوا للسكان أن يغادروا.
وصف شخص من سكان المخيم ما حدث:
"سمعنا طلقات نارية قرب المخيم ساعة الفجر. بعد قليل وصل مقاتلو داعش وأخبرونا بمكبر صوت أن نغادر جميعا. قالوا ألا نخشى شيئا وأن علينا الخروج إلى الشرق، إلى مناطق داعش. خرجنا من المخيم لكن مضينا إلى الشمال وسط أشجار الزيتون، صوب الحدود التركية. كنا نحو ألفي شخص. مع اقترابنا من الجدار الحدودي رأينا الجنود الأتراك على تلّة وراء الجدار، وبدأوا في الصياح فينا. أطلقوا النار صوب أقدامنا، فعاد الجميع أدراجهم، وركضنا في كافة الاتجاهات. أخذت أسرتي وسرنا إلى مخيم [نازحين آخر] قريب يُدعى الريان. نحن الآن خائفون لأن داعش قريبة من هذا المخيم أيضا، لكن أين عسانا نذهب".
قال مدير مخيم الشام القريب من بلدة كفر بريشة الواقعة على مسافة كيلومترين جنوبي الحدود التركية أثناء مقابلة إن صوت رشاش آلي كان مسموعا من حيث تقترب شاحنات داعش، التي جاءت من عند الجبهة الجديدة، من بلدة كفر شوش، على مسافة كيلومتر. قال إن الرصاص أصاب رجلا عمره 30 عاما بالمخيم في وقت مبكر من اليوم وأن الناس في المخيم غير القادرين على الفرار سريعا راحوا يحفرون في الأرض ليحموا أنفسهم.
في 14 أبريل/نيسان قال ممثلون عن النازحين على الجانب السوري من معبر باب السلامة الحدودي مع تركيا، لـ هيومن رايتس ووتش إن نحو 5 آلاف نازح من المخيمات الواقعة شرقا والتي سيطرت عليها داعش أو أصبحت تهددها داعش ليلة الأمس والصباح السابق، قد توافدوا على مخيم باب السلامة وعلى بلدة أعزاز القريبة.
قال سيمبسون: "تجبر الحدود التركية المغلقة رجالا ونساءً وأطفالا سوريين على حفر خنادق والاختباء للفرار من فظائع الحرب. محاولة تركيا لتهيئة ما تسميه منطقة آمنة هي مزحة مرعبة على المدنيين الذين يختبئون تحت الأرض ويتوقون للفرار من سوريا".
حتى مطلع أبريل/نيسانكانت تركيا قد أتمت بناء ثلث الجدار الخرساني المقاوم للصواريخ الممتد لمسافة 911 كيلومترا على حدودها مع سوريا. اطلعت هيومن رايتس ووتش على صور أقمار صناعية بتاريخ 8 أبريل/نيسان تُظهر إغلاق الجدار بإحكام لأجزاء كبيرة من الحدود شمالي حلب.
منذ أواخر مارس/آذار بدأت جماعات المعارضة المسلحة السورية عملية هجومية من معقلها في أعزاز لاستعادة مناطق مهمة من داعش على امتداد الحدود مع تركيا. بعد استيلاء الجماعات المسلحة على بلدة الراعي، بدأت داعش في هجوم مضاد في 9 أبريل/نيسان فاستعادت بعض المناطق. تستمر المصادمات في البلدات قرب الحدود التركية مع محاولة الجماعات المتمردة وداعش السيطرة على تلك البلدات.
حسب تقدير مصادر موثوقة بالأمم المتحدة في تركيا، بحلول 14 أبريل/نيسان كانت داعش قد بدأت هجوما على قرى شرق أعزاز، القريبة من الحدود مع تركيا، وسيطرت على عدد منها، مثل حوار كلس، وكفر شوش، والزيزفون-إيكدة، وبراغيدة.
بحسب تقدير عدة منظمات، فإنه حتى 12 أبريل/نيسان، كان 75 ألفا من السوريين يقيمون في نحو 10 مخيمات غير رسمية وعدة مواقع في أعزاز، شرقي البلدة على امتداد الحدود، وفي باب السلامة. كما قدروا أن 25 ألفا على الأقل من النازحين يتواجدون في مواقع عدة شرق أعزاز. فر الكثيرون منهم من عدة جولات قتال وعمليات هجومية شمالي سوريا.
منذ بدايات 2015أغلقت تركيا حدودها بشكل شبه كامل في وجه السوريين الهاربين من النزاع. في 12 و13 أبريل/نيسان 2016 قابلت هيومن رايتس ووتش 8 أشخاص وصفوا كيف أعادهم حرس الحدود الأتراك باستخدام العنف على الحدود مع سوريا، ومعهم عشرات آخرين، إلى سوريا، في فبراير/شباط ومارس/آذار 2016. وصف اثنان كيف ضرب حرس حدود أتراك طالبي لجوء آخرين بقسوة لدرجة أنه لم يعد ممكنا التعرف إليهما من النظر إلى وجهيهما.
هذه الشهادات الحديثة عن انتهاكات حرس الحدود الأتراك تتسق مع ما توصلت إليه هيومن رايتس ووتش من نتائجأواخر 2015، بأن حرس الحدود ضربوا وأعادوا عشرات السوريين دون اتباع إجراءات اللجوء، وكانوا قد عبروا إلى تركيا بالاستعانة بمهربين.
سمحتالسلطات التركية لمنظمات الإغاثة الإنسانية في تركيا بالعبور إلى سوريا والانضمام لجماعات الإغاثة السورية، من أجل توزيع الخيام والمساعدات الأخرى على السوريين العالقين على المعبر الحدودي وبالمناطق الحدودية القريبة.
قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش إن السماح بالمساعدات الإنسانية المُلحة والضرورية العابرة للحدود لا يعفي تركيا من التزامها باحترام مبدأ عدم الإعادة القسرية. هذا المبدأ، بحسب القانون الدولي العرفي والقانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان، يحظر رفض طالبي اللجوء على الحدود وقت تعرضهم لتهديد الاضطهاد والتعذيب.
في يوليو/تموز 2015 قالالرئيس التركي رجب طيب أردوغان إن "تطهير المنطقة من جميع العناصر الخطرة وإنشاء منطقة آمنة هو الأساس لعودة 1.7 مليون لاجئ سوري". في الشهر نفسه قالوزير الخارجية مولود جاويش أوغلو: "عندما يتم تطهير مناطق شمال سوريا من التهديد [الذي تمثله داعش]، فسوف تمتلئ المناطق الآمنة بشكل تلقائي... يمكن عودة النازحين إلى هذه المناطق الآمنة".
قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش إنه في حين أن رغبة تركيا في الحد من عدد اللاجئين قد تكون مفهومة، فالوضع الحالي في شمال سوريا يقول إن أي "منطقة آمنة"لن تكون آمنة حقا، مع تعريض حياة النازحين للخطر.
في أواسط مارس/آذار عقد الاتحاد الأوروبي اتفاق هجرة مع أنقرة لتقليل تدفقات اللجوء والهجرة على أوروبا، إذ قدم 6 مليار يورو لمساعدة السوريين في تركيا، مع تجديد مفاوضات عضوية تركيا في الاتحاد الأوروبي، وإمكانية إلغاء متطلبات استصدار تأشيرة لسفر المواطنين الأتراك لدول الاتحاد. كان من أهداف الاتفاق الأساسية تمكين اليونان، بدعم أوروبي، من رفض جميع طالبي اللجوء الذين يفدون إليها من تركيا بدعوى أن تركيا دولة آمنة. تعهد الاتحاد الأوروبي الصريح بالتعاون مع تركيا لكي تهيئ في سوريا "مناطق تكون أكثر أمنا"حيث "يتمكن السكان المحليون واللاجئون من العيش"يجب أن يُرى كجزء من خطة أكبر لاحتواء تدفق طالبي اللجوء.
قال سيمبسون: "العنف على الحدود التركية السورية إثبات مخيف على وجود أخطاء في الصفقة الأوروبية التركية. على دول الاتحاد الأوروبي وتركيا التعاون على توفير ملاذا آمنا للاجئين السوريين، لا إغلاق الأبواب في وجوههم بقسوة هكذا".
Jan Boehmermann, host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public ZDF channel is pictured during a TV show of Markus Lanz in Hamburg, Germany on March 17, 2012.
(Berlin) – German authorities should defend freedom of speech, even if the contents of the speech are offensive to some, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should not afford heads of state greater privilege against provocative speech.
Jan Boehmermann, host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public ZDF channel is pictured during a TV show of Markus Lanz in Hamburg, Germany on March 17, 2012.
Responding to a demand for action by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on April 15, 2016, that prosecutors would be allowed to pursue charges against a German satirist who wrote a highly offensive poem about Erdoğan. Merkel referred the case to prosecutors under article 103 of Germany’s criminal code which makes it illegal to insult foreign heads of state, with a penalty of up to five years in prison. Merkel said this article was “dispensable” and that her government would draft a proposal to remove it from the criminal code by 2018.
“By giving the go-ahead for a possible prosecution while acknowledging the law should be repealed, the German government is passing the buck for protecting free speech to the courts, instead of upholding its own human rights obligations,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government is contributing to the violation of free speech that a potential prosecution would constitute.”
The case centers on Jan Böhmermann, a satirist who recited the poem on German television on March 31. He admitted the poem was offensive and said he intended to test the limits of free speech in Germany. The Turkish government triggered the possible legal action under article 103 by submitting a formal request on April 10 to the German Foreign Ministry. Under the terms of the little-used article, the government was then required to decide whether to allow prosecutors to take up the case. Erdogan has also filed a private defamation case against Böhmermann in Germany.
Freedom of expression is protected in particular under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which both Germany and Turkey are parties. The European Court of Human Rights has made clear that the protection of free speech “is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are regarded as inoffensive…but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population.”
The court has likewise emphasized that while criticism of politicians has limits, those limits “are wider as regards a politician than as regards a private individual,” and that politicians and public figures are “obliged to display a greater degree of tolerance in this context.” Specifically, with respect to the type of offense provided for in article 103, the court has ruled that, “The offence of insulting a foreign head of state is liable to inhibit freedom of expression without meeting any ‘pressing social need’ capable of justifying such a restriction” and “undermines freedom of expression.”
The context of speech is also important in assessing what limits are acceptable, and in this regard the poem, which could be considered vulgar, was written as part of a deliberately provocative, satirical comedy act and, as the court has noted: “The use of vulgar phrases in itself is not decisive in the assessment of an offensive expression as it may well serve merely stylistic purposes,” and that, “Style constitutes part of communication as a form of expression and is as such protected together with the content of the expression.”
Respect for freedom of expression requires limiting criminalization of speech to offenses involving incitement to violence and imposing other restrictions only if they are strictly necessary and proportionate to serve a legitimate and lawful aim, Human Rights Watch said. In line with the case law of the European Court, criminalizing the kind of offending speech involved in this case violates freedom of expression as it is neither necessary nor proportionate.
Merkel noted that her decision “means neither a prejudgment of the person affected nor a decision about the limits of freedom of art, the press and opinion.” German opposition parties criticized Merkel for giving in to pressure from Erdoğan following the European Union’s signing of the refugee agreement with Turkey in March. Germany’s Social Democrats, Merkel’s coalition partners, said they opposed the chancellor’s decision to allow the case to proceed to prosecutors.
“The poem is certainly highly offensive, but it is in situations such as this when we need to stand up for protection of free speech,” Williamson said. “Germany bears responsibility for having such a bad law on the books and the sooner it is repealed, the better.”
(Athens) – The first round of European Union-sanctioned deportations of 66 people from the Greek island of Chios to Turkey on April 4, 2016 was rushed, chaotic, and violated the rights of those deported, Human Rights Watch said today. In Turkey, the detained deportees lost contact with family and friends held in Greece, and Turkish authorities have not allowed visits by rights groups or the United Nations.
“In the mad dash to start the deportations deal with Turkey, the European Union and Greece tossed rights to the wind, including for people who wanted to seek asylum,” said Fred Abrahams, Human Rights Watch associate director for program. “The abusive deportations expose the fundamental flaws in the EU’s expedited mass returns to a country that cannot be considered safe.”
In visits to the VIAL detention center on Chios on April 7 and 8, Human Rights Watch spoke with 12 friends and one relative of 19 Afghans who were deported from Chios on April 4. Based on those interviews and text messages exchanged between those interviewed and the deportees, Human Rights Watch documented an array of irregularities and violations. The authorities did not inform people that they were going to be deported, did not tell them where they were being taken, and did not allow some of them to take their personal possessions. According to the UN Refugee Agency, thirteen of those deported from Chios had expressed a desire to seek asylum in Greece, and that number could be higher, Human Rights Watch said.
The Greek authorities appear to have hurried the forced returns from Chios, and the 136 other deportations that day from the nearby island of Lesbos, to meet a publicized deadline for the start of returns under the ill-conceived EU-Turkey deal that went into effect on March 20, 2016. That deal allows the return of asylum seekers to Turkey on the presumption that Turkey is safe for asylum seekers and refugees.
The legal basis for the return to Turkey of migrants who are not seeking asylum is a Greece-Turkey readmission agreement from 2001. An EU-Turkey readmission agreement to allow similar deportations from all 28 EU member states will go into effect in June.
The deportations from Chios and Lesbos were carried out by Greek police with 180 “escort officers” from the EU border agency, Frontex. The Greek government and Frontex said that most of the deportees were from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan, and that none of the people returned to Turkey had wanted to seek asylum in Greece.
On April 8, Greece deported a second round of 124 people from Lesbos, primarily from Pakistan and Afghanistan, assisted by 144 Frontex officers. The next day, Greece announced that it would suspend deportations to Turkey for at least two weeks to improve the process, though Greece and Turkey have indicated that deportations may resume earlier.
Greece and the EU should extend the suspension of deportation until effective safeguards are in place to guarantee the right to seek asylum and to challenge deportations, Human Rights Watch said.
“The EU deal is based on the deceptive premise that all returned people are safe in Turkey, when the facts say otherwise,” Abrahams said. “To build walls around Europe, the EU is turning a blind eye to the dangers faced by people in desperate need.”
The bags of three deported Afghan men—Ilias Haqjo, Mohammad, and Reza (full names unknown)—which they were forced to leave in VIAL detention camp on Chios when they were deported on April 4, 2016. Greek police did not allow more than a dozen deportees to take their personal possessions.
The deportations from Chios began around midday on April 3, when Greek police at the VIAL detention facility took dozens of people to the main building where police and Frontex register new arrivals, and where the Greek asylum service is located. The authorities separated the 66 people they had identified for return, witnesses said. The 12 friends and one relative of the 19 deportees, who did not want their names published, told Human Rights Watch that the police had called people on the false pretext that they were to be registered, including for asylum.
“Salim,” a 24-year-old man from Afghanistan, said the police took three of his Afghan friends, Ilias Haqjo, Mohammad, and Reza (full names unknown), all between 20 and 25 years old, without their possessions.
“They came here and told them they have to go to register,” he said. “They left happy and when they came out the police were waiting for them…. If the guys knew they were going to be deported, they would have taken their bags, their papers, their money.”
Among those selected for return was a family of five from Afghanistan: Shila Ahmadi, 40, Jalal Ahmadi, 54, and their three children, Mohsen, 20, Omid, 18, and Soraya, 16. Shila’s brother said the family was from Logar Province but had moved to Kabul after the Taliban attacked their home in 2009, wounding Shila, Jalal, and Soraya.
“The police came and took everyone to the main area,” the brother said. “They separated the group [to be deported] and told them that they’ll be transferred.”
In the afternoon, Shila Ahmadi began to scream and protest in the main area. A video given to Human Rights Watch shows her wailing as about 15 riot police with helmets and shields approach. A group of men nearby starts chanting: “This is Europe, it’s a shame on you!” and “It’s not human rights!”
At 5:53 p.m., Omid Ahmadi began exchanging text messages with “Amir,” a friend of the family who was in the closed part of VIAL:
Omid: “They want to take us from here.” “Amir:” “Where?”
Omid: “I don’t know.” “Amir:” “Are you in the hall?”
Omid: “Yes.” “Amir:” “Deport or forward?”
Omid: “I don’t know.”
Later that evening, the police in VIAL bound the hands of the 66 deportees behind their backs and forced them onto a blue bus.
“They brought everyone in the bus; it was a police bus, and they didn’t let them take their jackets, bags, money, mobile phones,” said “Tahir,” a 26-year-old man from Afghanistan, referring to the three deported Afghan men, Ilias, Mohammad, and Reza. “We didn’t have time to speak. Their families are calling us and are asking, ‘Where are they?’ and we don’t have any information. We don’t know where they are.”
The police took the deportees to an abandoned factory in Chios called Tabakika, which served as the registration center for new arrivals on the island before the VIAL facility opened in February. A person who visited the factory that night told Human Rights Watch that he saw people sitting or sleeping on the concrete floor, some with mats. The people told him they had been given food but asked for water.
Between 15 and 20 of the people in Tabakika – Afghans and two people from the Democratic Republic of Congo – told the visitor that the police had taken them from VIAL without allowing them to gather their personal belongings: backpacks, clothes, and in some cases their mobile phones and documents.
Human Rights Watch saw eight of the bags that people had left behind in VIAL, including the bags belonging to the three Afghan men and bags from four other Afghan men who were also deported: Zishan Haider, Alijan, Asadullah, and Rohullah (full names unknown). Another Afghan man, “Karim,” showed Human Rights Watch a bag and medicine that he said a deported friend of his, Omid Popal from Kabul, had not been allowed to take.
One of the Afghans held at Tabakika before he was deported, Wahid Abbasi, left a voice message for his friend, “Hamida,” a single mother of one in VIAL, who was traveling with her sister and her sister’s five children. “Hello, we are here with families in another camp without anything, no water, no food and it’s so cold here,” he said at 9:20 p.m. on April 3, on the voice recording.
An exchange of text messages followed:
Wahid: There is no news of deportation. They don’t say anything. “Hamida:” How?
Wahid Now we are the camp. There’s nothing here. “Hamida:” They didn't tell you anything?
Wahid: We are at the shore. No, they didn’t say anything. “Hamida:” They didn’t give you any papers?
Wahid: They didn’t say a word. Whatever news we get we will inform you right away.
The confusion continued the next day as Greek and Frontex officials loaded people onto ferries in Chios and Lesbos harbors around 5 a.m. – two hours earlier than the police had announced to media.
Text messages between deportees on the boat and people still in VIAL indicate that the deportees did not know where in Turkey they were being taken. Around 11:30 a.m., Mohsen Ahmadi sent a message to “Amir,” the family friend in VIAL:
Mohsen: OK, they are taking us to Turkey, we’re inside the boat. Now we’re close to Turkey. “Amir:” They didn’t tell you where they’re taking you? Camps? What city are you in?
Mohsen: I don’t know. When I know I’ll tell you.
Shortly thereafter, Wahid Abbasi informed his friend in VIAL, “Hamida,” that the boat had arrived in Turkey. “Do you know where they’ll take you and what they’ll do?” Hamida asked. “I don’t know,” Abbasi replied at 12:03 p.m. “We’re on the boat.”
Also on the boat from Chios was a family from Afghanistan’s Faryab province – Ghulam and Rabia Sakhi and their daughters Shanaz, 19, and Suhaila, 15. A friend of the family who was detained with them in VIAL told Human Rights Watch that the Sakhi family had left their village, Maimana, because of fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban.
“With each of us is a security officer, which makes us uncomfortable,” a message from the Sakhi family said at 10:47 a.m.
On the other side, in Dikili, Turkey, the authorities hung blue tarps on the fence around the registration tents to block journalists and human rights monitors from contacting the deportees. The police commander at the area denied a Human Rights Watch request to access the site.
The deportees were then loaded onto buses and driven away. Police at the site told Human Rights Watch that they were headed to Kirklareli, near Edirne, and the media subsequently reported that the people deported from Greece were being held at the Pehlivankoy removal center in that town.
The deportees on the buses in Turkey, however, seemed not to know where exactly they were going. “Now we’re in the bus, they’re taking us to a camp,” Mohsen Ahmadi wrote his friend “Amir” around 3 p.m. “Why there?” “Amir” asked. “I don’t know, the camp is near Istanbul,” Ahmadi replied.
“When you arrive, let us know,” “Amir” wrote. “OK,” Ahmadi wrote back at 8:28 p.m., but that was the last message that “Amir” received.
“Hassan,” a friend of the four deported Afghanis who could not take their bags said he received a message that evening from one of that group, Haider, who is from Ghazni province, followed by a brief conversation over the phone. “Hassan” recalled:
“He [Haider] said: ‘We are near a gate. I don’t know where. Now they’re taking us inside. It looks like a jail.’ Then he said that if someone from immigration comes to our room [in VIAL] I should give them his stuff. Then he said ‘now we’re going inside and the police are collecting our phones. They’re saying empty our pockets.’ He said he’d call back, but he did not.”
On “Hassan’s” phone, Human Rights Watch saw a message from Haider at 10:28 p.m. on April 4, followed by a phone conversation of 2 minutes and 32 seconds.
Human Rights Watch collected the phone numbers of four of the people who were deported from Chios on April 4. As of April 18, none of them had replied to messages on Viber, the application they had been using. When called, three of the phones appeared to be shut off and one of the numbers was not working.
The legal basis of confiscating phones from people being deported, if any, remains unclear. Given that asylum seekers and migrants rely on their phones to stay informed and to keep in touch with family, such measures appear unnecessary and cruel, as well as a violation of the individuals’ personal property rights, Human Rights Watch said.
Wrongly Deported
Greek and EU officials repeatedly claimed that all of the people deported from Chios and Lesbos had not wished to seek asylum in Greece. But, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, 13 of the deportees from Chios had expressed such a desire, 11 from Afghanistan, and 2 from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The number who wanted to seek asylum may actually have been greater. During its research at the VIAL detention camp, Human Rights Watch found that many detainees lacked adequate information about seeking asylum in Greece and were unable to access legal aid. They also were not informed about the reason for their detention or their right to challenge it.
These deficiencies raise doubts that asylum seekers who arrived in Greece after the EU-Turkey deal came into effect on March 20, including those deported on April 4 and 8, have had a fair chance to request protection, Human Rights Watch said.
Detained in Turkey
In Turkey, the status and treatment of the 13 wrongly deported people, as well as the other 189 deportees from Chios and Lesbos, remain unclear. Even if they are able to apply for asylum in Turkey, they can do so only for the purpose of resettlement in another country because Turkey limits its application of the 1951 Refugee Convention to refugees from Europe.
A formal Human Rights Watch request to visit the removal centers that Turkey is using to process migrants returned from Greece was denied. UNHCR’s spokesperson in Turkey said the agency is still negotiating access to the Pehlivankoy removal center.
Turkey is currently negotiating readmission agreements with a number of countries, including Afghanistan, to expedite returns to countries of origin. Turkey's parliament approved the first of those agreements, with Pakistan, on April 8.
Turkey cannot be considered a safe country for non-European refugees and asylum seekers because it does not provide effective protection, Human Rights Watch said.
Effective protection requires access to fair and efficient asylum procedures and a demonstrated willingness and capacity to provide protection in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention and international human rights standards. This includes, most fundamentally, respect for the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits a country from returning a person to a country where they face a risk of persecution or abuse.
Turkey has openly flouted the principle of non-refoulement by blocking Syrian asylum seekers at its border. As of April 18, Turkey was denying entry to up to 100,000 people from Syria, and even shooting at some who were trying to flee fighting.
Despite Turkey’s assurances that it provides work authorization for Syrians with temporary protection, as well as access to education and health services, many Syrians in Turkey have told Human Rights Watch that they face difficulty in registering for temporary protection and receiving identification cards, which is required for employment, health care, and schools. Many Syrians who do have temporary protection identification are still unable to qualify to work or to find jobs and many, particularly among the unemployed, are not able to send their children to school.
Refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other non-European countries are not eligible for temporary protection in Turkey. At best, they can get conditional protection, which under Turkish law is explicitly for the purpose of third country resettlement. The EU-Turkey deal, however, makes no allowance for the resettlement of non-Syrians. It provides that Turkey will resettle one Syrian refugee to Europe for each Syrian asylum seeker returned to Turkey from Greece.
Des migrants assis dans un bateau turc les transportant de l’ile grecque de Lesbos vers Dikili (Turquie), encadrés par des agents de l'agence européenne des frontières Frontex, dont certains portent des masques hygiéniques, le 4 avril 2016.
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Des migrants assis dans un bateau turc les transportant de l’ile grecque de Lesbos vers Dikili (Turquie), encadrés par des agents de l'agence européenne des frontières Frontex, dont certains portent des masques hygiéniques, le 4 avril 2016.
Des messages SMS exprimant la peur sont suivis de silence
(Athènes) – La première vague d'expulsions sous l'égide de l'Union européenne de 66 migrants de l'île de Chios en Grèce vers la Turquie le 4 avril 2016 s'est faite dans la précipitation et le chaos, et a porté atteinte aux droits des personnes expulsées, a déclaré Human Rights Watch aujourd'hui. En Turquie, les expulsés détenus ont perdu le contact avec leur famille et amis retenus en Grèce et les autorités turques n'ont pas autorisé les visites par des groupes de défense des droits humains ou les Nations Unies.
Des migrants assis dans un bateau turc les transportant de l’ile grecque de Lesbos vers Dikili (Turquie), encadrés par des agents de l'agence européenne des frontières Frontex, dont certains portent des masques hygiéniques, le 4 avril 2016.
« Dans leur précipitation à mettre en œuvre l'accord d'expulsion conclu avec la Turquie, l'Union européenne et la Grèce ont fait fi des droits humains, notamment de ceux qui voulaient demander l'asile », a déclaré Fred Abrahams, directeur adjoint du bureau des Programmes à Human Rights Watch. « Les expulsions abusives mettent au jour les graves failles des expulsions collectives accélérées de migrants vers un pays qui ne saurait être considéré comme sûr. »
Lors de visites effectuées au centre de détention de VIAL sur l'île grecque de Chios les 7 et 8 avril, Human Rights Watch s'est entretenu avec 12 amis et un membre de la famille de 19 Afghans expulsés de Chios le 4 avril. Sur la base de ces entretiens et de messages SMS échangés entre les personnes interrogées et celles expulsées, Human Rights Watch a documenté de nombreuses irrégularités et violations des droits. Les autorités n'ont pas informé les gens qu'ils allaient être expulsés, ne leur n'ont pas dit où ils étaient emmenés et n'ont pas laissé certains d'entre eux prendre leurs affaires personnelles. Selon l'agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) , treize des personnes expulsées de Chios avaient exprimé le souhait de demander l'asile en Grèce, et ce nombre pourrait être plus élevé, a déclaré Human Rights Watch.
Les autorités grecques semblent avoir précipité les retours forcés de Chios et les 136 autres expulsions qui ont lieu de l'île voisine Lesbos ce même jour dans le but de respecter le délai annoncé pour le début des retours conformément à l'accord — bancal — conclu entre l'Union européenne et la Turquie entré en vigueur le 20 mars 2016. Cet accord autorise le retour des demandeurs d'asile vers la Turquie en se fondant sur l'hypothèse que la Turquie est un pays sûr pour les demandeurs d'asile et les réfugiés.
La base juridique du retour vers la Turquie des migrants qui ne cherchent pas l'asile est l'accord de réadmission conclu entre la Grèce et la Turquie en 2001. Un accord de réadmission entre l'Union européenne et la Turquie pour permettre le refoulement similaire depuis les 28 pays membres de l'UE prendra effet en juin.
Les expulsions intervenues des îles de Chios et Lesbos ont été menées par la police grecque de concert avec 180 « agents d'escorte » de l'agence européenne des frontières, Frontex. Le gouvernement et Frontex ont déclaré que la majorité des personnes refoulées étaient originaires du Pakistan, du Bangladesh ou d'Afghanistan et qu'aucune d'entre elles renvoyées en Turquie n'avaient souhaité demander l'asile en Grèce.
Le 8 avril, la Grèce a refoulé une deuxième vague de 124 migrants de Lesbos, principalement originaires du Pakistan et d'Afghanistan, secondée par 144 agents Frontex. Le lendemain, la Grèce a annoncé la suspension des refoulements vers la Turquie pendant deux semaines au moins afin d'améliorer le processus ; or, la Grèce et la Turquie ont indiqué que les expulsions pourraient reprendre plus tôt.
La Grèce et l'UE devraient proroger la suspension des expulsions jusqu'à ce que des mesures de protection efficaces soient en place pour garantir le droit de demander l'asile et réponde au défi des refoulements, a déclaré Human Rights Watch.
« L'accord de l'Union européenne est fondé sur le postulat trompeur selon lequel tous les migrants renvoyés en Turquie sont en sécurité alors que les faits sont différents », a affirmé Fred Abrahams. « Pour ériger des murs autour de l'Europe, l'UE ferme les yeux sur les dangers auxquels sont exposées des personnes en situation de détresse extrême. »
