In der vergangenen Woche wurden die Pläne von türkischen Autoritäten publik, irregulär eingereiste Syrer*innen nach Syrien zurückzuschieben. Darüber hinaus sollen in Istanbul lebende Syrer*innen, die nicht in der Stadt registriert sind, in die Regionen, in denen sie bei Einreise in die Türkei registriert wurden, zurückgeführt werden. Entgegen der Ankündigung, damit bis Ende August zu warten, gab es bereits Abschiebungen nach Syrien. Bereits am 25.07. berichtete die taz von rund 6.000 Abschiebungen und Rückführungen in andere Provinzen, unter ihnen auch Abschiebungen nach Afghanistan. Darüber hinaus seien Menschen gezwungen worden, Formulare zur „freiwilligen Ausreise“ zu unterschreiben.
Medien berichten aber auch über Aktions- und Widerstandsstrategien von Migrant*innen und Geflüchteten. So berichtet The National über WhatsApp-Gruppen, in denen sich Geflüchtete gegenseitig über Polizeikontrollen in der Metro, in Bussen und an öffentlichen Plätzen informieren. Außerdem habe das „Syrian Association Forum“ eine Internetseite gestartet, auf der die Namen von Deportierten gesammelt werden. Über das Online-Formular können zum Beispiel Angehörige oder auch Betroffene ihre Abschiebungen dokumentieren.
Über das veränderte Alltagsverhalten, mit dem sich Migrant*innen und Geflüchtete dem Abschieberegime zu entziehen versuchen, berichtet unter anderem evrensel. So haben Migrant*innen aus Schutz vor rassistischen Übergriffen die türkische Flagge vor ihren Läden aufgehängt. In einem Interview mit Aljazeera berichtet Hassan, 23-jähriger syrischer Geflüchteter aus Damaskus, dass er nur noch mit dem Taxi fahre, um den Polizeikontrollen und einer möglichen Abschiebung zu entgehen. Andere Geflüchtete vermeiden es ganz, vor die Haustür zu gehen.
Darüber hinaus gab es am Samstag, den 27. Juli, Proteste von Migrant*innen und Geflüchteten. Während der Proteste kam es zu rassistischen Übergriffen einer ultranationalen Gruppe, die die Veranstaltung mit rechten Parolen störte und Menschen tätlich angriff.
Syrische Migrant*innen und Geflüchtete wurden auch in die syrische Provinz Idlib abgeschoben. Erst vergangene Woche, am 24. Juli, berichtete Savethechildren, dass in den vergangenen vier Wochen mehr Kinder in Idlib getötet wurden als im gesamten Jahr 2018. Auch The New Humanitarian spricht davon, dass vergangene Woche „der tödlichsten Tag in drei Monaten Bombardierungen, auch auf Krankenhäuser und Wasserstellen,“ gewesen sei.
In der Türkei befinden sich circa vier Millionen Migrant*innen und Geflüchtete, unter ihnen 3,6 Millionen Syrer*innen.
Antep’te Suriyeli mülteciler saldırı olmasın diye Türk bayrağı asıyorSon zamanlarda hedef gösterilen Suriyeli mülteciler saldırı ve provokasyonlara karşı Antep’te dükkanlarına Türk bayrağı asmaya başladı.
[online Übersetzung: Syrische Flüchtlinge in Antep hängen die türkische Flagge auf, um nicht angegriffen zu werden
Syrische Flüchtlinge, die vor kurzem ins Visier genommen wurden, haben begonnen, in Anteps Geschäften türkische Flaggen gegen Angriffe und Provokationen aufzuhängen.:::::
As mood sours, Syrians report forced deportations from Turkey
When Syrian real estate worker Abu Ahmad was stopped by police in Istanbul he expected a ritual ticking-off for his expired documents, before being allowed on his way. Instead he says he was bundled into a bus packed with 50 men and deported to Syria. […] Ten days later he says he found himself at the Bab al-Hawa crossing into Idlib, a northwestern Syrian province controlled by rebels and Islamist militants, hundreds of kilometers from his home province of Deir al Zor in eastern Syria. Four others who spoke to Reuters in northern Syria said they had been forcibly sent there in the past week. All had thought they were being transferred within Turkey, not across the border to a country ruined by eight years of civil war. […]
Abu Ahmad [his brother] said he was taken to a prison near the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul. “The smell was inhumane,” he said, describing two inedible meals they were given and the lawyer he said swindled detainees out of hundreds of dollars, promising to get them released. Everyone who paid him was still deported. A policeman ordered him to sign paperwork in Turkish and Arabic that said he was voluntarily returning to Syria. “I said: ‘This is for deportation. I don’t want to be deported’.”
The policeman told him that the undated document would only be used if he committed a crime. Other policemen came in the room, yelling at and slapping some of the detained Syrians until, Abu Ahmad said, “everyone signed”.
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Since July 12, Turkish authorities have arrested at least 6,000 unregistered migrants in Istanbul, including 1,000 Syrians, according to Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. […]
Hassan fled his home in Damascus in November 2014, taking a ship from Tartus to Mersin in the east of Turkey, then travelled to Istanbul. […] Since the authorities started arresting Syrians, Hassan has taken taxis to and from the metro after work because he is too afraid to walk home. „It’s expensive for me, I can’t do it long term.“ He pays 50TL (US$9) each day just in taxis and fears the situation will worsen after August 20. […]
The Syrian Association Forum has reacted by collecting a database of names of those who have been deported.
Kelesoglu said this process is strictly against the rules of non-refoulement under the Geneva Conventions.
„You cannot deport people to conflict areas … even if they are unregistered,“ Kelesoglu said.The Turkish government is allegedly circumventing this by having people sign a voluntary deportation form, as Syrians and rights groups claim they are being forced to sign against their will.
Hassan said some of his friends have been deported this way, being threatened with jail unless they sign.
„If I was sent back to Damascus it would be so dangerous for me,“ said Hassan. „My life would be done.“:::::
People in Turkey have gathered to protest after the governor’s office of Istanbul Province ordered unregistered Syrian refugees to leave. About 100 protesters joined the rally in the city of Istanbul on Saturday in response to a call from a Turkish aid group.
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After the Ministry of Interior and Governorship of İstanbul announced that the Syrian refugees not registered in İstanbul would be removed to the cities where they are registered, a statement for the press attempted to be held in Saraçhane Park in Fatih, İstanbul on July 27.
Before the demonstration jointly organized by the Association of Free Thought and Education Rights (ÖZGÜR-DER), the International Refugee Rights Association and Legists‘ Association, police officers did an identity check on the ones that they found suspicious and allowed no one into the park except for the „Turkish citizens.“
When the joint statement was about to be held, the racist groups in the park started hurling threats and insults. The racist groups chanted the slogan, „How happy is the one who says that I am a Turk.“
Those attempting to read out the statement in solidarity with the Syrians responded with the slogan, „Down with racism, long live fraternity.“
As soon as the statement ended, the racist groups attacked the ones who attended the demonstration. A brief row ensued the attack. The police intervening in the attack detained some people from the assaulters.
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Ultranationalists meet Istanbul refugee solidarity protest with violence
With hostility towards the millions of refugees in Turkey continuing to mount, a group of NGOs gathered in Istanbul on July 27 to stand in solidarity with Syrian asylum seekers.
An ultranationalist group violently disrupted the protest, with chants of “Turkey is Turkish, and so it will remain.“ Plainclothes policemen seized placards and detained the counter-protestors.
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Adnan is stuck at home again. “I’m not leaving the house today,” he says, speaking from his apartment in the Istanbul suburb of Esenyurt. When he does venture out into the streets of Turkey’s financial capital, the 27-year-old refugee from Syria jumps at the sight of passing police cars. He avoids crowded places. Sometimes, like today, he prefers not to go out at all. […]
Starting on Tuesday morning, WhatsApp groups used by local Syrian activists started spreading warnings about security checks happening in metro stations, buses and public squares. One video appeared to show a Turkish police checkpoint in Istanbul’s Aksaray district, stopping young Syrian men to examine their papers. In another, shared on Thursday, shows a busload of young Syrian men after being apprehended by authorities. “We don’t know where we’re going,” one man says. […]
„In Idlib and northern Aleppo, life is impossible – there are weapons everywhere and you can’t work,” he says. “[And] Turkey wasn’t my choice, but I found myself forced to come here.”
“So I basically have no choice.”
And so he sits at home, and waits.
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The number of children killed in Idlib in the last four weeks has exceeded the total for 2018, Save the Children and its partner organization Hurras Network have found, as the latest escalation of fighting claimed the lives of eight children on Monday. The escalation in violence, which started at the end of April, has now resulted in the deaths of at least 400 people, including 90 children, and displaced 440,000 people. Save the Children and Hurras Network can confirm that at least 33 children have been killed since June 24, compared to 31 children killed during all of 2018.
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After three months of extreme violence in Syria’s northwest, marked by hits on hospitals, water facilities, and schools, this week may have seen the deadliest day for civilians since the fragile ceasefire in and around Idlib province began to unravel in April. On Monday, at least 60 people were killed and 100 injured – many of them critically – in a series of airstrikes, including one on a market in the city of Ma’arat al-Nu’man. The UN said the death toll of 39 from that attack, which includes five children, is likely to rise as more bodies are discovered. In total, at least 400 civilians have been confirmed dead since the end of April, and 440,000 have been forced into flight. Some people, the UN reports, have been displaced five or 10 times in Syria’s more than eight-year war and, with camps in the region overcrowded, many are sleeping in the open air. Syria may not be making the headlines like it used to, but there are few signs things won’t get worse before they get better.
The New Humanitarian │ 26.07.2019
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Since around ten days, Turkish authorities have increased stop-and-search checks around Istanbul, targeting Syrians without registration papers (including those who are registered in other cities) or for working informally. It is alleged that many have been detained and eventually deported to Syria, some after having been forced to sign “voluntary repatriation” forms.
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Turkish authorities are detaining and coercing Syrians into signing forms saying they want to return to Syria and then forcibly returning them there, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 24, 2019, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu denied that Turkey had “deported” Syrians but said that Syrians “who voluntarily want to go back to Syria” can benefit from procedures allowing them to return to “safe areas.” […] “Turkey claims it helps Syrians voluntarily return to their country, but threatening to lock them up until they agree to return, forcing them to sign forms, and dumping them in a war zone is neither voluntary nor legal,” said Gerry Simpson, associate Emergencies director.