Turkish Lawyer’s Hunger Strike in Greece Over Asylum Revocation Enters 29th Day
Source: Balkan Insight
Gunay Dag on May 31, 2025, in Athens,. Photo: People’s Law Office – International Office/Facebook.
A Turkish lawyer, Gunay Dag, on hunger strike in Greece for 29 days, is demanding the restoration of his international protection after Greece in April revoked his right to political asylum.
The Greek Council of Refugees, GCR, which provides legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, has undertaken his legal representation.
“Dag’s refugee status was revoked for reasons of public order and national security based on documents to which we do not have access,” Maria Papamina, from the GCR, told BIRN, adding: “This is being done to many refugees, a process that we have seeing for a long time lately.”
The Greek Council of State, the top administrative court in the country, is due soon to issue a decision on an appeal by another refugee represented by the GCR whose political asylum has also been revoked.
“We are awaiting this decision, which will affect cases like Dag’s and many other refugees whose status has been revoked,” Papamina said.
In May, Greek Migration Minister Makis Voridis announced a new draft bill on migration that will tighten the framework for entry into the country, increasing penalties for those who enter illegally.
Dag’s case is due to be examined on June 27.
Dag is a lawyer at the International Bureau of the People’s Law Office and a member of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (CHD). Citing political pressures, he fled to Greece in 2020 and applied for asylum, which was granted in 2022.
The Turkish Interior Ministry included him on a list of “wanted terrorists” on December 20, 2022.
Over the years, Dag has carried out various professional activities in Athens. However, Greece did not provide him with a residence card or passport. He started a sit-in protest in January outside the Asylum Office on Katechaki Avenue in Athens. While his protest was ongoing, on April 28, he was informed that his asylum had been revoked.
The press office of the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum said that Dag has been told that “confidential” new information emerged before his asylum was revoked.
“Regarding the revocation of his political asylum, as has already been communicated to him, new information has emerged – classified as confidential – between the time his asylum was granted in 2022 and its subsequent revocation,” the press office told BIRN.
“As for the sit-in protest, we do not comment on individuals’ personal choices of protest,” it added.
The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front of Greece and the Turkish Communist Party held an information campaign outside the Athens Bar Association on May 31, where signatures were collected for the return of Dag’s asylum status.
NOTE: This article was updated on June 6, 2025 to include a response from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and to correct the location of the sit-in protest.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
