Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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28.07 The USSD 2005 report further stated that:
“Regulations require asylum seekers to apply within 10 days of arrival and submit proof of identity in order to register for temporary asylum, although this deadline was not enforced. An appeal can be lodged within 15 days of a decision by authorities not to receive an asylum claim; after the appeal procedure, rejected applicants are issued a deportation order that can be implemented after 15 days. Asylum seekers arriving in the country after transiting through one or more other countries continued to face difficulties in lodging an application. As a result, some of the refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR were unable to register with the government or otherwise legalize their status in the country.“ [5b] (Section 2d)
28.08 As noted in the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants ‘World Refugee Survey 2005’, Turkey released on 16 June 2005:
“Turkey maintained a geographic reservation on the 1967 Protocol to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) to limit to Europeans its obligations under the 1951 Convention. Turkish law protected asylum seekers from refoulement if they ‘register their claims within ten days; provide valid identity documentation; and receive resettlement assistance from UNHCR or directly from resettling countries.’... Despite progress in curbing illegal transit migration, Turkey lacked an effective process to screen asylum seekers from the thousands of interdicted migrants it periodically caught in sweeps. The Passport Law of 1950 criminalized entrance into Turkey without valid travel documents.” [92]
28.09 The World Refugee Survey 2005 continued:
“Turkey deported three Iranian asylum seekers registered with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and an additional 41 asylum seekers before UNHCR could assess their applications, including 23 to their countries of origin. Heeding UNHCR’s advisory not to return people to Iraq, Turkey deferred repatriation for 945 rejected Iraqis asylum seekers. The Government also permitted about 1,800 Somali and more than a hundred Sudanese failed asylum seekers to remain on humanitarian grounds, pending greater stability in their countries of origin… Turkey detained 193 persons of concern to UNHCR, in addition to the 41 aforementioned deported asylum seekers… Asylum applicants - documented or not - had to register with Turkish authorities within ten days of arrival, and reside in the town closest to their point of entry unless UNHCR recommended their transfer for security or other reasons. Asylum seekers also had to regularly present themselves to the local police, sometimes on a daily basis. Authorities in each city determined the terms of residence, and violators were subject to immediate deportation at the Government’s discretion… In April [2004], Turkey offered temporary legal residence, as foreigners, to more than 1,000 Iranian asylum seekers originally holding refugee documentation from UNHCR in Iraq. Re-categorizing them, however, excluded the Iranians from benefits as asylum seekers or refugees, including third-country resettlement, health benefits, and protection from refoulement. UNHCR extended to these refugees some limited financial and medical assistance despite their changed status and did not rule out resettlement as a durable solution. Turkish authorities also granted residence permits to some 375 asylum seekers who entered Turkey illegally in 2004.” [92] (p7-8)
28.10 As recorded in the World Refugee Survey 2005 in Turkey there were in total 7,800 refugees and asylum seekers, including 4,000 from Iraq and 2,000 from Iran. [92]
28.11 With regards to the issue of the Iranian refugees Amnesty International commented in October 2005 that:
"…while the group of 1,200 Iranian Kurdish refugees have been recognized as refugees by UNHCR in Turkey, as well as by UNHCR in Northern Iraq, the Turkish authorities have refused to grant protection to these refugees on its territory and have refused permission to the vast majority of this group to resettle in a third country, which has placed them at serious risk of refoulement to Iran." (Amnesty International’s concerns at the 56th session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 3 October 2005). [12e] (Paragraph 3.2)