Since January of this year, according to Turkish media, Turkey has deported over 101,574 refugees, including more than 57,000 Afghan refugees. The situation for refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey is becoming increasingly precarious.
According to a report from Anadolu News Agency, the Turkish Ministry of Interior published a report on Saturday, November 12, stating that the number of refugees deported has climbed by 152% since last year.
According to a new report by Human Rights Watch, hundreds of Syrian refugees, many of whom had protected status, were forced to sign voluntary return documents and sent back to Syria between February and August of this year.
These records state that since January 2022, a total of 57,174 Afghan refugees have been repatriated. This comes as a large wave of Afghan migrants left the country after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
In light of the circumstances since the Taliban seized power in the nation last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish authorities have repeatedly remarked that “Turkey does not have any obligation whatsoever to be a safe haven for Afghan refugees.”
Asylum seekers trying to enter Europe to begin new lives, particularly those escaping war and persecution, have crossed Turkey as a major transit country.
After Syrians, Afghans are thought to make up the second-largest refugee population in Turkey. Many of the migrants arriving from Iran travel to Istanbul in search of employment or to gain access to another coastal city where they might board a boat bound for Europe.—Khaama New Agency
