Elyas's family calls for help: Lawyers will object to the deportation order for the activist from Iran

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“We are very worried for Elyas. Elyas's life is at great risk if sent back to Iran. Please help..."

The person calling for help for Iranian refugee Elyas Torabibaeskendari is Andisneh Torabibaeskendari, Elyas's sister.

Taken into custody at the 21st Pride March held on June 25 in İstanbul, Elyas was kept first at the Repatriation Center in Tuzla and then transferred to the center in Urfa. A deportation order has been given for Elyas, the family informs. 

The family also says that Elyas's lawyers will object to this decision and that it should not be possible for Elyas to be deported during this objection period. 

"Elyas may face anything"

Andisneh Torabibaeskendari talked to bianet and told that they were very concerned; she requested that the press in Turkey and the international press should give Elyas a voice. 

"Elyas may face everything, starting with torture if sent back to Iran. Hear Elyas's voice and do not send Elyas back to Iran," she said. 

"The situation of Elyas at the repatriation center has also become critical. We want not only Elyas's, but all other migrants' voices who are being kept at the center to be heard," Torabibaeskendari told bianet. 

Reminding that Elyas is a migrant under international protection, she said that she was hoping that Turkey will reverse this wrong decision as soon as possible. 

İstanbul LGBTI Pride Week Committee also issued a statement. In the statement they said, "We invite the international community to put pressure on the authorities to end the unlawful and long-term detentions that our friends are being subjected to." 

"Mika wants to stay in Turkey"

The committee also shared the following information about their friends kept at the repatriation centers. 

"Our friend Mika who is a citizen of Australia was sent to the Tuzla Repatriation Center after being taken into custody. The Pride Week Committee first could not learn where Mika was being kept but then our lawyers learned that Mika was sent to Erzurum Aşkale 2nd Repatriation Center. Mika has a soar leg but is unable to receive medical care from a specialist under sterilized conditions. We requested that Mika should be sent to a hospital. Mika wants to stay in Turkey. We informed the Australian embassy but as far as we know they have not yet intervened to help Mika to be released," says the statement of the committee.  

Conditions at Repatriation Centers

The committee also informs that their friends who are citizens of Portugal and South Africa wish to return to their countries. One has swelling on the arm but cannot receive medical examination or care, and is exhausted under the bad conditions at the repatriation center.

"Another friend is a citizen of Russia who wants to apply for international protection. However, we are not able to get information. Considering the human rights situation in Russia and the ongoing war, repatriation to Russia may lead to a serious risk," the committee states.

İHD: “A vital problem”

Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chairperson Eren Keskin had said, in a press briefing held at the association after the Pride March. 

“Our friends who were taken into custody were subjected to ill-treatment and torture. Not only this, some of our friends who are not citizens of Turkey were sent to repatriation centers, violating the international agreements that Turkey has ratified. One of them is Elyas from Iran.

"Elyas has international protection status. According to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, Turkey cannot send someone who is at life-threatening risk to a repatriation center, but unfortunately, this was done. Elyas's repatriation to Iran is a vital problem." 

Iranian Refugees in Turkey

According to the data of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) approximately 39 thousand refugees from Iran live in Turkey as of November 2019.

However, Turkey retains a geographical limitation to its ratification of the 1951 UN Convention, leaving non-European refugees outside the scope of the protection that the convention brings.  

According to the figures of the Directorate General of Migration Management, 3.588 Iranian citizens applied for international protection in Turkey last year.

(EMK/PE)