We have previously published about large groups of people, Afgan families, who have been taken from camps in coastal areas and transported across Turkey to the border to Iran.
Now they are also rounded up in large numbers and transported to the Harran container camp in Şanlurfa province, close to the Syrian border. Previously this camp has been hosting Syrian refugees, all Syrians have been removed and the camp is now used to host Afghan families.
People in the camp have all had Turkish papers and ID cards for years, now their papers have been cancelled, their ID card no longer valid, and they fear that this is done so that Turkish authorities can legally deport them. Question is why is this happening to only Afghans, and why now?
People from the camp is complaining about living conditions inside the camp, unfortunately we have so far not been able to get much documentation from the people in the camp, they say it’s illegal to take pictures and videos, perhaps they have a good reason for not wanting this to come out.
How many people are currently living in the camp is difficult to say, we are told that 2-3 buses arrives every day, the camp is rapidly filling up, all new arrivals are Afgan families, all have had their papers revoked.
People in these buses are mostly coming from the North Aegean area, Ayvacik, Ayvalık, Dikili and İzmir, and from what Turkish authorities call “Removal Centres”.
One of these centers is located in the outskirts of Ayvacik, Çanakkale, north of the Greek island of Lesvos, one of the main entry points for Afghans entering into Europe.
We have had contact with several groups in this facility over the last weeks, they are all Afghan nationals, families with large number of children, and they have all tried to cross into Europe, but been stopped by Turkish coast guard or pushed back by Greek coast guard.
Previously, people being stopped or picked up at sea, have been taken into provincial holding facilities, registered, and let out again after a few days. Now, people are being transported to these “removal centers”, but only Afghan nationals, they are kept locked up under bad conditions, many times for days, before being shipped across Turkey in buses to camps close to the Iranian and Syrian border.
We have so far been alerted to people, Afgan families, being moved to two camps, one at the border to Iran, and one at the Syrian border. These are the camps we know about, question is how many more are there, these are most likely not the only ones.
Why this is happening now, and why only to Afghans living in Turkey, can potentially be related to a deal made with Greece, financed by the European Union, to try to reduce the number of Afghans crossing from From Turkey to Greece through the North Aegean.
In the last five months of 2023 there was a steady increase in arrivals on the Greek Aegean islands, a large portion of which were Afghans nationals. This increase continued into this year, and in the two first months of 2024, arrivals increased a staggering 240% compared to the same months in 2023. A large percentage of this increase happened on Lesvos, where large numbers of Afghan families continued to arrive, Greek authorities needed to do something, and we believed they found a solution, by making a deal with Turkey.
Over the last weeks, arrivals on the North Aegean region, especially on Lesvos, witch is the main entry point into Europe for Afghans, have plummeted, crossings in this area have been drastically reduced, and very few Afghan nationals have been registered as new arrivals on the island, this is not a coincidence.
Meetings between Turkey and Greece on the topic of “migration flow” has been ongoing since the end of last year, and we believe that a deal has been struck, a deal that most likely won’t be officially announced, because it can’t stand the light of day, not only illegal by Turkish law, but European law as well.
We read in the Greek press a few weeks ago that the Greek Aegean islands will launch fast-track visas for Turkish nationals from April 1. The announcement followed an agreement by Athens and Ankara, approved by the EU, to revive a previous scheme the special Schengen Express Visa program for Turkish citizens wishing to visit certain eastern Aegean islands.
We know that this wouldn’t be enough to by off Turkey to do Europes dirty work, so the question is, what are they not telling us?, what was put on the table to sweeten the deal, and how much of European taxpayers money will be used this time to lure Turkey to tighten their grip at the border?
This sounds all too familiar, “paying” Turkey to do our dirty work, as we tried with the EU-Turkey Deal, all in the name of “protecting” the borders of Europe, without any concern for the pain and suffering we inflict on those in the receiving end.
We are deeply concerned for the safety and wellbeing of the Afghan families who have been transported to camps close to the Iranian and Syrian border, and believe that they will be illegally deported, if not already, then soon, if nothing is done to try to prevent it.
Kudos to all of those who, on a daily basis, do their utmost to fend for the rights of people at our borders!
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