The return to Turkey

With tension on the Greek islands increasing as overcrowded facilities saw a turn to violence last week, the beginning of returns to Turkey from Greece are set to ease the pressure this week. Hours later, as this paper went to print, the law setting the framework which would allow all the pieces to come together, was adopted by the Greek Parliament with a  majority of 169 – 107.

Near the end of the plenary discussion, alternate minister of National Defense, Dimitris Vitsas, tabled the Ministry’s communication on competitions for the alimentation in refugee shelters, which will be financed by the EU budget. The Ministry received harsh criticism concerning transparency issues, as competitions are conducted in deviation of national legislation and are not subject to judicial review of the national Court of Auditors, given the urgency of the situation on the ground.

According to the Commission’s plan, the 1:1 scheme that applies to Syrians and that will start being implemented on April 4, is aimed to return people directly from the Greek islands to Turkey and to resettle them from Turkey directly, via planes, to any EU member states. However, how these people will be transferred directly from the Greek islands to Turkey still remains unclear. The European Commission’s Deputy Chief spokesperson Mina Andreeva said it will be a struggle “to put all the necessary factors in place” so that the EU-Turkey refugee deal would be implemented by April 4.

Just three days before the start of the new deal, only 1,500 Greek officials are active on the ground, compared to the 4,000 that was initially announced last week. The Commission started dispatching personnel to Greece during the first week of April, but it seems that only half of the remaining 2,500 will be able to be dispatched in time. What is more, some 700 FRONTEX officials are ready to travel to Greece, 40 of them were scheduled to travel on the weekend. From the European Asylum System Organisation (EASO), some 30 experts were scheduled to arrive to the Greek island hotspots by April 4.

Meanwhile, the European Commission appears to be aware of the recent events that have taken place at the Greek island hotspots as a result of severe overcrowding. On April 1, a group of more than 500 refugees and migrants, mainly families with children, knocked down a fence and broke out of the Chios hotspot where they were being detained in the Halkiou area of the island. Then, escorted by the police, they moved to Souda town, where another 211 migrants and refugees who had arrived on the island since March 31 are staying. It was not possible to transfer these latest arrivals to the hotspot since the facility, designed to accommodate 1,200, is already 300 persons above capacity.

During these past few days, violent incidents have been reported at the hotspots. This has forced the police to evacuate members of humanitarian organisations operating in the hotspots as a safety precaution. The groups include MSF volunteers, whose on-site surgery was damaged. The Red Cross has also pulled out of the Chios hotspot citing safety concerns. In response, the UNHCR has urged parties to the recent EU-Turkey agreement on refugees and migrants “to ensure all safeguards are in place before any returns begin”. This is in light of continued serious gaps in both countries, according to a UNHCR statement released on April 1.

“UNHCR does not object to returns of people without protection needs and who have not asked for asylum, providing that human rights are adhered to”, the announcement read.

‘Anxiety and frustration is widespread’

The UNHCR has also commented on the hotspot centres being used to detain people with pending deportation orders, as is the case in Moria in Lesvos. “There are now some 2,300 people there,” the UNHCR said. “This is above its stated capacity of 2,000. People are sleeping in the open, and food supply is insufficient. Anxiety and frustration is widespread”.

In addition, families are reporting being separated and scattered across Greece.

On the island of Samos, at the Vathy hotspot, the UNHCR warns of poor sanitation conditions with little help available for persons with special needs. Food distributions are chaotic, as the hotspot is crammed with 600 people above its capacity. A recent riot at Vathy resulted in three people being stabbed.

In response to the deteriorating situation, the UNHCR and other international NGOs have decided to suspend their services at the hotspots used as detention centres “with the exception of protection monitoring and providing information on asylum procedures”.

Furthermore, those who arrived before March 20 are currently spread across some 30 sites. The situation is especially difficult at Greece’s Idomeni border crossing with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Conditions there are “dismal” as people refuse to leave. Greece’s Alternate Prime Minister of Greece Yiannis Dragasakis and other government officials say those stranded in Idomeni and some 5,800 others who remain at the port of Piraeus “will be evacuated”. The government has stressed that there will be no use of force during the planned evacuations.

However, the risk of panic and injury at these sites and others is very real under the current circumstances. There have been numerous incidents of fighting and riots reported by the Greek media this week.

Without further EU support, it is feared that the limited capacity of the Greek asylum services to register and process asylum applications will create even more problems. Limited hours of registration and daily caps on registrations, as well as a lack of access to Skype for registrations set up by the country’s Asylum Services, are fuelling the anxiety.

The principle of non-refoulement

As for Turkey, both the UNHCR and Amnesty International have questioned Turkey’s political will to implement its side of the deal with the EU by respecting the “non-refoulement” condition that prevents it from returning people who have a right to international protection. In Turkey, the UNHCR has requested access to people returned from Greece in order to ensure they can benefit from effective international protection and to prevent risk of refoulement.

UNHCR hopes that the Temporary Protection regulation required for granting or reinstating temporary protection status for Syrians readmitted from Greece will be adopted soon.

Under the “non-refoulement” principle of international law, a country is prohibited from deporting individuals to a war zone. Amnesty International has warned of violations. It has reported that about 100 Syrians have been sent back to Syria’s conflict zones daily since mid-January, resulting in a breach of international law on behalf of Turkey. This report “exposes the flaws of the EU-Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees arriving in Greece”, according to Amnesty International.

While Turkey has denied these reports, Amnesty International presented evidence. One case involved three minors who were forced to return to Syria without their parents. Another case involved the return of a pregnant woman. Most cases involved Syrians without papers, remaining unclear if they were taken away by Turkish officials.

“The inhumanity and scale of the returns is truly shocking. Turkey should stop them immediately,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s director for Europe and Central Asia. In response, the European Commission’s Spokesperson on Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Natasha Bertaud said the Commission is taking these reports into serious consideration by tabling them in bilateral meetings and talks with Turkish officials.  More specifically, Maarten Verwey, who is acting as the EU coordinator to implement the EU-Turkey statement, has held meetings with the Turkish authorities in order to pressure Turkey to finalise amendments to the deal that are needed to make the 1:1 scheme possible.

According to EU sources, no person will be forced to return to Turkey, if he or she remains under international protection, or if the protection needed will not be possible.

To ensure that Turkey abides by the agreement, European Commissioner on Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos is scheduled to visit the Turkish capital Ankara. Meanwhile, the European Commission also appeared to be ready to launch a new relocation programme, following an unofficial forum that took place in Ankara on April 1. The forum was attended by representatives of the European Commission, the UNHCR and the Turkish government. On March 31, a preparatory meeting was also held. This was attended by representatives from Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden and Germany.

The return to Turkey