The Guardian — Greek officials have agreed to deport a Syrian refugee back to Turkey, the first such move since the government changed its asylum system to make it easier to expel Syrians under a deal between Turkey and the EU.
A Greek appeals committee upheld a decision against a 20-year-old man who landed in Greece in late July.
The news provides a boost to the faltering EU-Turkey deal. Announced in March, the deal is meant to deter refugees from travelling to Greece by ensuring the deportation of most arrivals back to Turkey. Arrival numbers have fallen considerably but the deportation process has largely stalled, causing European politicians to fear there may be a new wave of migration.
Only a few hundred non-Syrians have been sent back to Turkey since March, and no non-Syrian has been returned against their will. This was partly because the Greek appeals system, mostly staffed by independently appointed lawyers and refugee specialists, frequently judged Turkey’s treatment of refugees to be sub-standard and approved only a handful of Syrian deportations, which in any case were never completed.
Rights campaigners criticised the move. They say Turkey’s asylum process does not offer refugees basic rights such as access to legal work and often education or healthcare.
John Dalhuisen, Europe director for Amnesty International, said: “This ruling takes for granted that a Syrian will be fully protected in Turkey, and hence is fundamentally flawed. The new appeals committee should not have deemed Turkey a safe country for Syrians when all evidence suggests that international safeguards and protections continue to be flouted.
“With lawyers and international monitors still denied entry into the closed camps to which this man could be sent, any suggestion that Turkey has suddenly overhauled its inadequate asylum system remains in serious doubt.”
In practice the Syrian man’s deportation may not take place immediately. Turkish liaison officials left Greece in the aftermath of the Turkish coup attempt in mid-July, making it harder to deport people.
