Report criticizes Turkey’s ‘EU-funded deportation machine’
Source: InfoMigrants: reliable and verified news for migrants – InfoMigrants
A report by non-profit investigative organization Lighthouse Reports and by international media outlets has accused Turkey of abusing the rights of refugees and migrants at EU-funded removal centers.The EU has rejected the claims.
“The European Union has funnelled hundreds of millions of euros” into a vast network of deportation centers for migrants in Turkey where Syrians and Afghans have been allegedly forced to sign documents of voluntary repatriation and are deported in dangerous conditions back to war-torn Syria and to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, according to a report by non-profit organization Lighthouse Reports and international media outlets including El País, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and L’Espresso.
The latter, an Italian weekly magazine, published an article regarding these allegations on October 11.
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‘Systematic beatings in centers on which the EU spent 213 million euros’
The investigation unveiled allegations of “widespread and systematic beatings, no access to legal aid, overcrowding and precarious sanitary conditions at EU-funded deportation centers” in Turkey, Lighthouse said in a statement.
The organization noted that it documented “213 million euros in EU funding for the construction and maintenance of around 30 removal centers in Turkey, with a total of nearly 1 billion euros given to the country to help manage the flow of people across its borders” since 2007.
The investigation also stressed how reports by European diplomats on abuse and deportations had allegedly been ignored.
The majority of the 37 former detainees who spoke to the journalists in such centers said they were forced or were pressured into signing papers for their “voluntary repatriation or receiving documents signed for them without their consent”.
Deaths reported
The report, which relied on 100 sources, including the 37 people who said they had been detained in 22 different EU-funded removal centers, as well as Turkish, Syrian and Afghan officials and former removal center staff, said “two deaths were reported after their deportation from Turkey”.
They included a former officer of the Afghan army who was killed by the Taliban after being deported in August 2023, according to his relatives, and a Syrian man who was arrested at a road block and killed while in detention in June 2024, according to two sources from the victim’s native city.
Over three million Syrian and Afghan refugees are living in Turkey and, based on an accord dating from 2016, Ankara has pledged to keep its borders closed to those who are trying to reach the EU without documents, while Brussels is providing funding for the management of migrants on Turkish territory.
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‘Funding for hotspots in Turkey regular’ says EU
The EU responded to the report on the day it was published. It said funding for repatriation centers in Turkey “abide by international and European standards”, according to a spokesperson of the European Commission.
“The EU’s assistance for refugees and migrants in Turkey is provided according to European principles, rules and procedures”, but “Turkey has its laws”, added the spokesperson, stressing that “the fundamental rights of people and the principle of non-refoulment must always be respected”.
“It is the responsibility of Turkish authorities” to carry out an in depth investigation into the claims and “we urge them to do it”, the spokesperson added.
Turkish response
In a statement, the Turkish migration management directorate told the news magazine Politico that it operates “in accordance with law, human rights and our values of civilisation throughout … from the detection and capture of irregular migrants apprehended in our country, to their administrative detention in removal centers and their subsequent deportation to their countries of origin or safe third countries.”
All deportations are carried out in line with Turkey’s national legislation prohibiting the return of refugees to places where they could be persecuted, it insisted to Politico. Regarding Syria in particular, “all foreigners returning to this country do so voluntarily.”
Allegations that Afghans are forced to sign voluntary return papers, have such papers signed on their behalf by Turkish officials, or are deported despite facing threats “are untrue,” the directorate stated to Politico.
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