What Merkel, Tusk and Timmermans should have seen during their visit to Turkey
Report from GUE/NGL Delegation to Turkey, May 2-4, 2016
A delegation of three GUE/NGL MEPs to Turkey last week found that refugees who have been deported from Europe back to Turkey under the EU-Turkey deal are not being given any opportunity to apply for asylum.
The delegation also found that all refugees in the ‚removal centres‘ in Turkey were locked in prison-style conditions with no (or extremely limited) access to telephones or legal assistance.
The delegation spoke directly with numerous refugees as well as with Turkish authorities at the removal centres in Kırklareli and Edirne; and with refugees, international organisations, NGOs and volunteers in Istanbul, Gaziantep and Kilis (next to the Turkey-Syria border).