The first Syrians to be returned by plane under the EU-Turkey deal have been detained in a remote camp for the past three weeks with no access to lawyers, casting further doubts over EU claims that they are being sent back to a safe third country.
With hundreds more likely to be expelled in similar fashion in the coming weeks, the returnees have warned that those following in their wake face arbitrary detention, an inscrutable asylum process, and substandard living conditions.
Their claims undermine the legitimacy of the EU-Turkey migration deal, under which it is likely most Syrians landing on Greek islands will be returned to Turkey, on the assumption that they can live without restrictions once there.
Turkey has said they will be released soon. But a group of 12 Syrians returned by plane on 27 April who were contacted by telephone said they had simply been detained without clear legal recourse since they arrived in a remote detention center in southern Turkey called Duzici. The fate of two other Syrians deported along with hundreds of non-Syrians earlier in April is unknown.
“You can’t imagine how bad a situation we are in right now,” said one Syrian mother detained with her children, who now wants to return to Syria because she sees no alternative. “My children and I are suffering, the food is not edible. I’m forcing my children to eat because I don’t have any money to buy anything, but they refuse because there are bugs in it.”
The detainees have also been denied access to lawyers and specialized medical care, she alleged.
Like all the interviewed detainees, the Syrian asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, but said she now wanted to return to Syria because she felt that even a war-zone would be better for her family than the refugee detention centers in Greece and Turkey.
Several of the Syrians had been living in Turkey before making the journey to Greece, but have now not been able to rejoin their families since being deported back to Turkish soil. After being detained in Greece following the start of the EU-Turkey deal, they agreed to be deported to Turkey on the assumption that they would not be granted asylum in Europe, and in hope of being reunited with their families.
“We cancelled our asylum claims in Greece to come back to our homes, not to this prison here,” said another inmate, who asked to be known by the pseudonym of Lara.
She added: “They won’t allow us to leave. I’m pregnant, I’m not good – what am I doing here? They just say we have to wait. If they told us you must stay here for one month or two months, that would be OK – but we just don’t know.”
When asked to comment, a spokesman for the Turkish government predicted that the 12 Syrians would soon be let go. “We expect to release them next week once their background checks are completed,” said the spokesman, who spoke anonymously in accordance with government protocol.
But other long-time inmates at the camp said they doubted that anyone would be released in the near future. One of the hundreds of other Syrian refugees also detained at Duzici said that he had been held since 10 February after being seized from his home. He said he was still unsure of why he was detained, or when he would be released, and doubted any inmate would be freed soon.
“It’s all just talk,” said Abu Hassan, a grocer detained with his wife and children, who asked to be known under a pseudonym. “They are just pressuring us to go back to Syria and die there.”
