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Turkey To Lift Its Geographical Limitations For Asylum Seekers
8 August 2009
Today's Zaman -- In the wake of increasing calls from the United Nations and the European Union, Turkey has decided to lift geographical limitations to its Refugee Convention, a system which has been criticized for discriminating against asylum seekers based on their country of origin Turkey was among the drafters and original signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees; however, it is one of the few countries that continue to maintain a “geographical limitation” to the applicability of the convention. Hence, Turkey is not obligated to apply the convention to refugees coming from outside Europe. The EU is pressuring Turkey to lift the limitation as one of the many preconditions that Turkey must meet during the pre-accession period for EU membership. Turkey has also been bitterly criticized by refugee advocacy groups as well as human rights groups for clinging to this limitation. Turkey drew strong criticism for its asylum procedure in reports prepared on the occasion of June 20, World Refugee Day, which prompted Turkish authorities to revise the country's asylum procedure. In line with Turkey's bid to harmonize its legislation regarding asylum and immigration with that of the EU, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has prepared an action plan and submitted it to the EU which foresees revision of the status of refugees. The government plans to put this plan into action by 2010, and the last phase of this plan foresees the elimination of geographical limitations by the year 2012. In line with the action plan, the government plans to build seven shelters for refugees, pass and implement an immigration law and establish an asylum and immigration directorate in the body of the Interior Ministry by 2010. Despite its earlier pledges to the EU to build 13 shelters for refugees, Turkey has failed to keep that promise. Istanbul (two shelters), Antalya, Van, Ankara, Çanakkale and Edirne are planned to be the sites of the seven new shelters the government plans to build for the refugees. Geographical limitation to be lifted in 2012 Turkey is concerned that it will draw a huge number of refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where many suffer from wars and instability, if it lifts the geographical limitation; however, the EU and the UN find Turkey's concerns unfounded because the number of refugees who travel through Turkey and apply for asylum in third countries does not exceed 5,000 in a year, according to UN data. The EU also wants Turkey to not mix up its illegal immigration issue with the refugee issue. So, Turkey has pledged that it will lift its Additional Protocol, signed in 1967 and adding a geographical limitation to its Geneva Convention responsibilities, in the last phase of its action plan, in 2012. Turkey has been a main actor on the Eurasian migration scene, first as a country of origin and then as one of destination and transit. According to Turkey, the EU is pursuing a discriminatory policy in its treatment of refugees, as EU countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain accept refugees who have the workforce potential necessary for the EU but unqualified asylum seekers are deported. Turkey needs to sign readmission agreements with 24 countries In line with its action plan, Turkey needs to sign readmission agreements with its neighbors. A readmission agreement Turkey signed with Romania is not yet in practice, and Turkey is still continuing talks with the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Belarus, Ukraine, Lebanon, Macedonia, Egypt and Libya in a bid to sign readmission agreements. However, before these are completed Turkey wants to sign readmission agreements with countries which are the main sources of its illegal immigrants, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, India, China, Tunisia, Mongolia, Israel, Georgia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. Turkey has not been able to conclude talks with any of these countries so far. According to a report released by Amnesty International (AI) on June 20, there are currently 18,000 asylum seekers in Turkey. AI accuses Turkey of collecting an asylum fee of nearly TL 250 from asylum seekers and preventing those who fail to pay this amount from settling in a safe country. Turkey made no promises to the EU to remove the asylum fee. The action plan Turkey submitted to the EU regarding its asylum procedure also makes assessments about the situation of asylum seekers worldwide. The report, which was prepared in line with data from AI, shows that 42 million people around the world had to leave their homes by the end of 2008; 15.2 million of these people were refugees, 827,000 of them were asylum seekers and 26,000 were displaced people. One of the things Turkey pointed out in its report was the instability in neighboring countries. Claiming that developed countries do not act sincerely on refugees and asylum seekers, Turkey, referring to data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the most sensitive countries about refugees were developing countries. The report also said developing countries host around 85 percent of the refugees and asylum seekers in the world, with Pakistan, which is the country sending the most asylum seekers to Turkey, hosting 1.8 million asylum seekers, Iran hosting 1 million asylum seekers and Syria hosting 1.2 million asylum seekers. The report asks the EU to not ignore the fact that the countries which send the most asylum seekers to the world are neighbors to Turkey. In the report, the government claims that developed countries place the responsibility on the shoulders of the developing or less-developed countries regarding the problems of the refugees and that the refugee problems can only be resolved with the initiative of the developed countries. Due to their limited financial means, it is impossible for developing nations to solve the refugee problems alone; hence, developed nations should extend financial aid to them to tackle the problem.
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