Open Letter of 10 human rights NGOs calling on the Turkish authorities and the UN: 40 Asylum-seekers under threat of an imminent humanitarian crisis
Raffaella Di Marzio
To : M. Atilla Toros
General Directorate of Ankara Immigration Department
Çamlıca Mahallesi 122. Cadde No:4
Yenimahalle/ANKARA
CCs :
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
Special Rapporteur on minority issues
Working Group on arbitrary detention
UNHRC in Türkiye
HRWF/ CAP Liberté de conscience (07.22.2024) - In May 2023, the story of the 104 refugees of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL) who presented themselves at the Turkish side of the Kapikule border seeking access to asylum in Bulgaria, but were blocked and beaten by the Turkish police, became international news. The AROPL is an internationally recognized new religion, registered in the United States of America with headquarters in the UK and in the EU. It is not to be confused with the Sunni-derivative Ahmadiyya Community persecuted in Pakistan. AROPL members are regarded as heretics in both Sunni and Shia countries, and are severely persecuted.
Media attention eventually generated a United Nations statement reminding Türkiye that the AROPL refugees faced serious risks if deported and that the obligation not to send back asylum seekers to countries where they may be persecuted or killed is “absolute and non-derogable.” The international mobilization allowed 67 AROPL members to leave Türkiye, while 40 remained there.
The remaining forty tried to scrupulously respect Turkish laws and immediately proceeded to legalize their stay. Since their original cases were administered in the city of Edirne, they asked the immigration office in Edirne if they could apply for asylum in Türkiye there. Upon being informed that they could, they settled in the city of Edirne and applied for asylum in Türkiye, based on the argument that they are from Iran and Iraq (except one who is from Palestine), where they are particularly at risk of detention due to blasphemy laws. Their asylum claims were registered, and they received a temporary residency permit in Türkiye for a year. They proceeded to organize themselves to survive, as most of them had left their countries of origin in a hurry and with little money. They pooled their resources together and rented a house where they could live communally and take care of the most vulnerable members. Many found jobs in Edirne.
On July 14, they received an order to leave Edirne and scatter to 18 different Turkish cities within fifteen days with no housing support. If they do not comply, their residence permits will be revoked, and they may be deported back to their countries of origin (notwithstanding the United Nations’ request to Türkiye not to do it). While now accustomed to deal with AROPL as a law-abiding and hard-working community, local authorities in Edirne told them the decision was taken in the capital Ankara and that there are security reasons not to keep them gathered in a city close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders. The AROPL suspects that opposition to its religious doctrines, which have been denounced as heretic in Türkiye too, also plays a role in the decision.
The decision presents a humanitarian crisis as none of these 40 members have the resources to find housing in these 18 cities. The refugees’ resources are barely sufficient to pay the rental of one house in Edirne where they are all living together and where they put all their modest resources. Simply put, they do not have the money to rent apartments in eighteen different cities. Additionally, the members will lose their jobs and will have to start looking for new ones in cities they know nothing about. This decision also places the most vulnerable members in an impossible situation. In several instances, old and vulnerable members are asked to move alone to other cities, where they will be the only AROPL member in town and will not be able to count on the hsolidarity and support of co-religionists. For example at least four Iranian elderly and sick women are put 15 hours away by car from their AROPL caretaker who speaks their same language. They do not speak Turkish nor English and as such have no chances of survival in these cities. In another instance a 60-year-old man with heart problems was put seven hours away by car from the nearest co-religionist from his same country who speaks the same language. In another case a 65-year-old man was put with his teenage daughter who does not speak Turkish in a city by themselves, where she will not be able to find a job to support them.
To all these objections, Türkiye answers that how the AROPL refugees find accommodation is their problem. The country does not seem to have a system for supporting refugees, not even by placing them in temporary camps as other countries do. This puts the group in the impossible situation of either ending up homeless on the streets or risk being rendered illegal and deported back to their countries of origin.
Recommendations to prevent a humanitarian crisis
The group is asking Ankara to reconsider their decision by allowing the group to remain together in Edirne as this is where their rent is already paid.
They are willing to make any agreement with the administration where they vouch not to ever approach the border or else they agree to be voluntarily deported.
They are asking to be allowed to remain together so they can continue to take care of their vulnerable members.