Syrian Refugee Detained at Atatürk Airport over 1 Year

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Syrian refugee F.M. has been arbitrarily kept at Atatürk Airport as of March 15, 2015.

The Amnesty in its statement today expressed that F.M. is in danger of being sent back to Syria:

“We call authorities of Turkey to release F.M. immediately and grant F.M. Temporary Protection Status within the frame of Article 91 of Foreigners and International Protection Law”.

The organization also asked the authorities to not send F.M. back to Syria.

He left twice, and sent back

Citizen of Syria, F.M. has left Syria to evade from military service in August 2012 and went to Lebanon.

F.M. stated that he came to Turkey from Lebanon following being kept hostage for ransom by a local group in Lebanon.

He went to Malaysia after staying in Turkey for a month. His entrance to Malaysia was denied on the allegation that he used fake ID information. Malaysian authorities returned him to Turkey in March 2015.

F.M. has been remanded in custody in Atatürk Airport’s “Problematic Passengers Room” for eight months. He demanded to be sent to Lebanon after he was attacked and wounded by another person on remand.

He headed to Lebanon on November 20 but his entrance to the country was denied and that sent back to İstanbul the next day, on November 21. He has been taken into custody once more as he landed in İstanbul. He is still kept in “Problematic Passengers Room”.

Lawyer went to court for F.M.’s release but no decision has been made yet.

“Problematic Passengers Room”

There is no natural light in the airport’s “Problematic Passengers Room”. Privacy of passengers is not considered in the room with no bed which is lightened by artificial light for 24 hours.

“Being kept in such a room for a year can be accepted as tyrannous, inhuman, and insulting treatment by domestic and international law”, noted the Amnesty.

He wants to go back saying “At least I will die once”

The Amnesty said sending F.M. back to Syria will cause a lot of right violations:

“There is no legal basis to keep F.M. in custody. Authorities of Turkey had earlier presented the refugees with the threat of facing serious human rights violations by sending them back. This contradicts Turkey’s liability of not sending them back with respect to domestic and international law”.

F.M. told his relatives that “I will at least die there once instead of dying every day I spend here” and stated that he considers demanding to be sent back to Syria. (AS/TK)