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Turkey: Return of asylum-seeker in violation
of international law
Amnesty International is seriously concerned about
the well-being of Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim, a Syrian
Kurd who on the eve of March 25 was forcibly
returned to Syria by the Turkish authorities despite
his claim for asylum still being examined by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
He was handed over to the Syrian authorities who
imprisoned him and Amnesty International fears that
he may be subjected to serious human rights abuses
in Syria. The decision of the Turkish authorities to
return him to Syria, before his claim was even fully
assessed by the UNHCR, represents a clear breach of
Turkey's obligations under international law not to
return individuals to countries where they may be at
risk of serious human rights violations, including
torture or other ill-treatment.
Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim, a 21-year-old Syrian Kurd,
had reportedly fled the Syrian army early in 2004
following the widespread violation of human rights
perpetrated against Kurds in Qamishli, north-eastern
Syria in March 2004 (see AI report Kurds in the
Syrian Arab Republic one year after the March 2004
events, AI Index: MDE 24/002/2005). He went to
Turkey where he was detained by security forces on
22 August close to the Syrian border and was
remanded to prison in Diyarbakir on allegations of
being a member of the Kurdish armed organization
Kongra Gel (previously known as the PKK). The lawyer
of Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim has alleged a systematic
violation of his client's rights while he was in
detention -- including that he was tortured and
ill-treated and that he was forced to sign a
statement. Nevertheless, a court acquitted him of
all charges on 24 March.
However, Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim was then transferred
to the Foreign Nationals' Department of Diyarbakir
Police Headquarters. On 25 March he was taken to the
border gate at Nusaybin where he was handed over to
the Syrian authorities. He has been placed in prison
in the town of Qamishli and will reportedly be
imminently taken to a prison in Damascus; it is not
known what he will be charged with. Amnesty
International has documented a pattern of serious
human rights violations against Kurds in Syria such
as killings, unfair trials and arbitrary detention
as well as torture and ill-treatment against
detainees, and is therefore concerned for the safety
of Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim.
As Ahmet Muhammed Ibrahim had told the state
prosecutor and the court in Turkey that he wished to
apply for asylum, the office of the UNHCR in Turkey
was in the process of assessing his asylum claim and
determining whether he would qualify for refugee
status under the 1951 Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) and its 1967
Protocol. The International Secretariat of Amnesty
International and the Turkish section of Amnesty
International intervened in his case before the
deportation took place, asking the Turkish
authorities not to proceed with their plans as
Amnesty International was concerned that Ahmet
Muhammed Ibrahim would be at risk of serious human
rights violations if forcibly returned to Syria,
considering the pattern of human rights abuses
targeting Kurds in Syria. The lawyer of Ahmet
Muhammed Ibrahim also wrote to the Turkish
authorities expressing concerns regarding his
possible return. In addition, the UNHCR had
reportedly urged that he should not be returned to
Syria until his asylum claim had been fully
assessed. However, the authorities decided not to
respond to these calls, but to proceed in
contravention to Turkey's obligations under
international human rights and refugee law and
standards.
This is unfortunately not an isolated case. Amnesty
International has on many occasions expressed its
concerns to the Turkish Government regarding cases
where individuals have been forcibly returned to
countries where they may be at risk of serious human
rights violations. In 2003 the authorities returned
Hojjat Zamani to Iran from Turkey where he has since
been sentenced to death (see Urgent Action 318/03,
AI Index: EUR 44/025/2003, 5 November 2003 and
updates). In January 2002, Karim Tuzhali was
executed in Iran; the Turkish authorities had
returned him to Iran in 1998 despite the fact that
he had been recognized as refugee by the UNHCR (see
Further information on EXTRA 97/98, MDE 13/002/2002,
5 February 2002).
Background
Kurds in Syria have been subjected to serious human
rights violations, as other Syrians, but as a group
they also suffer from identity-based discrimination,
including restrictions placed upon the use of the
Kurdish language and culture. In addition, a large
proportion of the Syrian Kurds are effectively
stateless and, as such, they are denied the full
provision of education, employment, health and other
rights enjoyed by Syrian nationals, as well as being
denied the right to have a nationality and passport.
Amnesty International has documented serious
violations of human rights in Syria including
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of people solely
for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental human
rights; "disappearances"; prolonged incommunicado
detention; widespread use of torture and
ill-treatment in detention; unfair trials; impunity
for members of the security forces suspected of
perpetrating human rights violations; severe
restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of
association; harassment of human rights defenders;
and the imposition of the death penalty.
Turkey has ratified the 1951 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), but
operates the Refugee Convention with a geographical
restriction, applying the terms of the Convention
only to refugees from Europe. As a consequence,
non-European refugees have to seek recognition as
refugees at the Turkish offices of the UNHCR.
However, regardless of the scope of a state's
obligations under the Refugee Convention, it must
respect the principle of non-refoulement. This
principle, which forbids the return of a person to a
country where he or she would be at risk of serious
human rights violations, is a principle of customary
international law, binding on all states. The
principle is to be applied without discrimination;
be they asylum-seekers of European or non-European
origin. The obligation of non-refoulement is further
reinforced by the fact that Turkey is a party to the
United Nations Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
and the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom. Both of these
conventions prohibit refoulement and they apply
without discrimination to all persons, European or
non-European.
The Turkish Government should halt the expulsion of
asylum-seekers who are either recognized as refugees
by the UNHCR or who have filed an asylum claim with
that organization and are awaiting a decision. The
Government should abide scrupulously by
international human rights and refugee law and
standards, including the principle of non
refoulement, and ensure that no person is returned
to a country where he or she would be at risk of
serious human rights abuses.
Amnesty International USA
www.amnestyusa.org
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