Iraq/Turkey: Turkey's refugee determination procedure and its application to Iraqi refugees; Turkish government, and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), treatment of Iraqi asylum claimants; cases of refoulement and processing times (May 1997 to July 1999)

Please find attached a publication from the Foreigners Borders and Refugees Department of the Turkish Ministry of Interior which includes Illegal Migration and Human Trafficking (1998) and "The Regulation on the Procedures and the Principles Related to Population Movements and Aliens Arriving in Turkey Either As Individuals or in Groups Wishing to Seek Asylum Either From Turkey or Requesting Residence Permission in Order to Seek Asylum From Another Country." (30 Nov. 1994).

The UNHCR states:

The Turkish Government ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in March 1962 but maintains the geographical limitation, restricting its asylum commitment to applicants from European countries. Non-European refugees are granted temporary asylum in Turkey following a status-determination procedure in which the UNHCR Branch Office – opened in Ankara in 1960 – plays a key role. …

As non-European refugees are only granted temporary protection in Turkey, nearly all have to be resettled. 1,629 refugees departed to resettlement countries (USA, Canada, Australia and the Nordic countries) in 1998. The same number is expected for 1999.

Apart from providing international protection and durable solutions, UNHCR assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey includes material assistance, health care, lodging, education, legal and social counselling pending durable solutions. …

UNHCR's work in Turkey has contributed significantly to the steady progress made in the past two years with in the improvement and fair implementation of the Turkish asylum procedure, training in refugee law and the development of favourable jurisprudence. Relations with government counterparts are currently very cordial and productive.

The number of known incidents of refoulement has steadily decreased in the course of the last years. Increased presence of UNHCR staff in the border areas since 1996 has allowed for better monitoring and intervention in favour of refugees and asylum-seekers (Sept. 1999).

The following is taken from the 1999 Report of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Some paragraphs have been moved for purposes of continuity:

It was nearly impossible to estimate accurately the number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Turkey in 1998. Either because they were ineligible to meet procedural requirements, or because they sensed the authorities' hostility, many would-be asylum seekers apparently chose to remain in hiding rather than come forward with refugee claims. Therefore, the 1,432 persons the Turkish government recognized as asylum seekers in 1998 were likely only a fraction of the persons in Turkey with a well-founded fear of persecution in their homelands. During the year, 4,340 persons registered asylum claims with the Turkish police, of whom 97 percent came from two countries, Iran and Iraq. The approval rate for cases interviewed in 1998 was 72 percent. At year's end, 3,862 cases were pending, of whom 61 percent were Iraqis and 29 percent were Iranian.

UNHCR runs a parallel refugee determination procedure. In 1998, 6,838 persons registered 3,648 refugee claims with UNHCR. Of these cases, 2,350 were Iraqis and 1,169 Iranians, together comprising 96 percent of the caseload. In contrast, in 1997, 4,448 persons registered 2,104 refugee claims with UNHCR, showing a 54 percent increase in claims from 1997 to 1998. UNHCR attributed the increase, in part, to a more regular and visible UNHCR presence in towns near the Iranian and Iraqi borders. Of the cases UNHCR decided in 1998, it recognized 891 as refugees (representing 2,230 individuals).

A total of 1,629 refugees were resettled from Turkey to third countries in 1998, an increase from the 1,556 resettled in 1997. The leading  receiving countries were Canada (340), Australia (326), the United States (268), and Norway (268). As of October 31, 1998, 1,765 refugees were waiting for resettlement offers or processing, of whom 1,054 were Iraqis and 658 Iranian. …

Asylum Procedures

Turkish asylum procedures in 1998 were based on a November 1994 regulation, Decision Number 94/6169, that required non-European, undocumented asylum seekers to present themselves to the police within five days of arrival in the province where they entered the country. The regulations instructed local police near the borders to conduct interviews to determine if refugee claimants should be recognized officially as asylum seekers.

[On January 13, 1999, the 1994 asylum regulations were amended, extending from five days to ten the deadline for registering asylum claims with the authorities after arriving in the country. The amendment let stand the requirement that undocumented asylum seekers register their claims in the governorate of the province where they entered the country. The amendment also introduced a right to appeal.]

Because Turkey retains the geographic limitation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to "events occurring in Europe," it refuses to recognize non-Europeans as refugees. Therefore, the 1994 regulations took a convoluted approach to defining the terms "refugee" and "asylum seeker." Normally, an asylum seeker is considered to be a person claiming to be a refugee whose status has not yet been determined by an adjudicator. However, according to the Turkish regulations, the distinguishing feature between a refugee and an asylum seeker is whether or not the person in question is of European origin.

[In part because of its fears about mass influxes, Turkey has historically been reluctant to provide individual refugee status determination and asylum for Iraqis. This is reflected in Turkey being one of the last countries to retain the European geographical limitation to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Since the 1991 creation of a "safe haven zone" in northern Iraq, however precarious its safety has been since that time, Turkish authorities have generally presumed that northern Iraq is safe for Iraqi Kurds and that they can be returned there without fear of persecution.]

According to the Turkish definition, an asylum seeker, no less than a refugee, is a person whom Turkish authorities have found to have a well founded fear of being persecuted according to the criteria adopted from the refugee definition in the UN Refugee Convention and Protocol. However, that Turkish authorities recognize a foreigner as an asylum seeker does not carry with it a guarantee against refoulement. Essentially, recognition only results in a temporary residence permit that enables the refugee to seek third country resettlement.

Generally, undocumented, non-European asylum seekers first present themselves to UNHCR offices in Ankara or border areas, where UNHCR interviews them, gives them a letter saying that they are asylum seekers on their way to lodge an asylum application with the Turkish authorities, and directs them to go to the police in the province where they entered the country. It is rare that asylum seekers only register with the police and do not first present themselves to UNHCR; such cases are limited to Europeans and Turkomans.

When the asylum seeker arrives at a police station, the formal asylum procedure begins. Local police conduct the asylum interviews but do not make a status determination. They send the file to the Ministry of Interior in Ankara, where it is reviewed and passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then asks UNHCR its opinion on the claim. (UNHCR does not actually see the police file; nor is UNHCR present during the police interviews.) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then makes a recommendation to the Ministry of Interior, which informs the police whether the claim has been granted or denied. If granted, the recognized non-European "asylum seeker" is given a six month residence permit, sent to a satellite city, and directed to UNHCR to be considered for UNHCR recognition (if not already recognized) and third country resettlement. If denied, the applicant has 15 days to appeal the decision or leave the country. This is an administrative appeal directed to the same authorities.

In practice, because UNHCR and the Turkish authorities rarely disagree on refugee recognition and because the Turkish authorities appear to give weight to UNHCR opinions, the closest examination of the appeal occurs on the UNHCR side. In effect, this creates a procedure within the procedure: asylum seekers not recognized as refugees in the first instance by UNHCR are rejected by the Turkish authorities as well, and not only appeal formally with the Turkish officials, but appeal UNHCR's decision as well.

Generally, UNHCR completes its first-instance decisions in about one week, but decisions can take up to three months, depending on the complexity of the case and workload at the time. Rejected applicants have one month to appeal UNHCR's decision, unless the case is determined to be manifestly unfounded after a first- instance interview, in which case there is no right of appeal. Rejections based on lack of credibility are interviewed a second time by a new legal officer. Sometimes, cases are reopened based on the introduction of new factual elements supporting the claim. Generally, UNHCR decides the second appeal within three months. In 1998, UNHCR recognized 131 of 734 cases on appeal, an approval rate of 18 percent.

Some asylum seekers who have been interviewed by Turkish police in the border towns have complained that police interviewers place more emphasis on determining how they managed to enter the country and other security matters than on the grounds for the refugee claim. Some asylum seekers have also alleged that they were subjected to body searches during the course of these interviews in search of false passports. They have also told NGO staff that the interpreters used in the police interviews are often incompetent. In 1998, UNHCR was engaged in training workshops with Turkish police and other officials involved in the asylum procedure. USCR was in the country during one such workshop, and found Turkish police officials to be open and receptive to the training programs.

Iranian asylum seekers entering Turkey in Hakkari Province have also complained of being sent back and forth between Van and Hakkari, and some have reportedly been deported for failure to meet the filing deadline, despite having attempted to file claims within the five-day limit. Despite the problems in the border region, UNHCR reports that about two-thirds of the asylum seekers who first presented themselves to UNHCR in Ankara during the first eight months of 1998 and were directed to go back to file their claims at border police stations did so. This showed an improvement over 1997, when about half of those directed to return to border areas did so.

Turkish courts have intervened in several cases involving asylum seekers who failed to meet the five-day filing deadline, and have enjoined the police not to remove those persons. In one case, the Ankara Regional Administrative Court suspended the deportation of a UNHCR-recognized refugee, ruling that the five-day limit on filing asylum claims could not bar a refugee claim from being considered. In another case involving a UNHCR-recognized refugee facing deportation for his illegal status, the Ankara Regional Administrative Court suspended deportation on humanitarian grounds and urged the government not to deport refugees with offers of third-country resettlement. The Ministry of Interior appealed one case to the Council of State, but did not appeal three other decisions favorable to the asylum seekers that challenged the five-day limit.

The 1994 regulations did not include a "grandfather" clause for undocumented aliens who had been residing in the country before the regulations went into effect and who could not possibly meet the five-day filing deadline. In 1997, the Turkish authorities agreed to a "one-time solution" for a list of 3,330 non-European refugees and asylum seekers who had not met the procedural requirements of the asylum regulations. The government said that it would issue exit permits to those recognized as refugees by both UNHCR and Turkey and would allow such persons to seek third-country resettlement. The government said that beneficiaries of the one-time solution would be able to register with police in the areas where they were residing, and would not be deported if they followed the rules, were recognized by UNHCR, and were offered a resettlement place by a third country.

At the end of October 1998, only 980 persons, less than a third of the people on the master list, had registered with the Turkish authorities. Of these, 897 departed for third-country resettlement, and 83 cases were pending. Of the remainder, 1,778 were either rejected as refugees by UNHCR or were "no-shows" for their interview, 12 Iranians were deported, and 1 person became a Turkish national. The Turkish authorities refused to register 216 persons because they were neither Iranian nor Iraqi (most were Afghans), as the authorities decided to limit the one time solution to those two nationalities. The remaining 343 persons are assumed to have left Turkey on their own.

Although the one-time solution improved the situation for some of the longer term Iranian and Iraqi cases, it did not resolve the problem of persons recognized by UNHCR as refugees but not recognized by the Turkish authorities. At year's end, there were about 100 UNHCR-mandate recognized refugees in Turkey whom the government did not recognize as refugees. UNHCR could not recommend these refugees for third-country resettlement because they lacked exit permits. In some cases, resettlement countries, such as Canada, had offered to resettle refugees unrecognized by the government, but the government refused to give them exit permits. …

Apprehensions, Deportations, Refoulement

UNHCR has noted a steady decline in the number of recorded cases of refoulement of Iranian and Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers from Turkey since 1994. UNHCR documented 64 cases of refoulement in 1998. In contrast, UNHCR documented 81 cases of refoulement in all of 1997, and 139 cases in 1996. The 64 cases in 1998 included 15 UNHCR-recognized refugees (8 Iranians and 7 Iraqis) and 49 asylum seekers whose cases had not yet been decided. In most cases, the refoulement occurred because the refugee or asylum seeker had failed to meet Turkey's procedural requirements for filing claims, usually not having registered with the police within five days of arrival at the closest provincial entry point.

Throughout the year, Turkish border authorities apprehended, detained, and deported foreigners attempting to transit Turkey to Greece and other European countries. In 1998, Turkish authorities apprehended 10,159 undocumented foreigners in the northwestern province of Edirne bordering Greece and Bulgaria. An interior ministry official told USCR that none of the people apprehended expressed an interest in seeking asylum. Turkey enlisted the services of its coast guard to apprehend would-be emigrants, bringing them back to Turkey to be detained and deported.

The Turkish press frequently reported apprehensions of foreigners attempting to cross the Meric River (Evros in Greek) marking the Greek Turkish border, and interdicting vessels in the Aegean Sea bound for the Greek islands. According to Turkish officials, most of those arrested attempting to cross the northwestern border were Iraqi Kurds, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Iranians, Afghans, and Sudanese.

Turkey's crackdown on third-country migrants corresponded to the European reaction to the 1998 New Year's week apprehensions in Italy of two boatloads filled with about 1,200 (mostly) Kurds from Iraq and Turkey. After Italy's president and prime minister both said that Italy would welcome Kurdish asylum seekers, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem sent a letter to his Italian counterpart saying, "The current problem is a blatant case of illegal trafficking in human beings, an extremely serious form of organized crime. To present this basic fact as a romanticized human rights problem distorts reality and encourages those who organize illegal immigration." The letter went on to chastise Western European countries for their "complacent attitude" toward "terror related activities." For its part, the foreign minister said that Turkey would be "taking all necessary measures to stem illegal immigration through or from its territory."

Other EU countries criticized Italy, and called upon Turkey to redouble its efforts to deter the migration of Iraqi Kurds. In response, Turkey stepped up its coast guard and border patrols along the Meric River bordering Greece and along the Aegean Sea coast.

In early January 1998, Turkish police rounded up thousands of undocumented aliens, apprehending between 1,000 to 3,000 in and near Istanbul. The authorities bused Iraqi nationals to the border near Silopi, and about 800 Iraqis were deported via the Habur Gate in January 1998. It appeared that none of them was given the opportunity to register an asylum claim before being deported.

On January 9, USCR wrote to the Turkish government, saying, "While we do not question your right to apprehend undocumented aliens in your country, we would ask that they be accorded full rights to hearings on any possible asylum claims they might have." …

During USCR's September 1998 visit to Van, the gendarmerie apprehended a group of five Iranian Baha'is whom a judge had ordered deported. UNHCR found out about the case, and was able to intervene with the judge, who agreed to suspend the deportation while he considered Turkey's obligations under international law. As is frequently the case among judges serving in border regions, this judge had just arrived on rotation, and was unfamiliar with laws and regulations regarding refugees and asylum.

During the same visit, the gendarmerie arrested a group of 26 Iraqis in Van. They were bused back to Silopi and deported, despite UNHCR efforts to intervene on their behalf. The police informed UNHCR that the Iraqis had not requested asylum, but UNHCR had no access to the group to make an independent assessment. The Van police official told USCR that Iran refuses to accept back Iraqis who enter via Iran (mostly PUK members who are afraid to pass through KDP-controlled northern Iraq, which borders Turkey), and that the police therefore take such Iraqis to the Habur Gate, where they are sent back to KDP-controlled northern Iraq. The police official noted that the distance between Van and the Habur Gate is great and that the costs of this transport are significant.

Most non-European refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey are concentrated in three areas: Ankara and its satellite towns; Silopi, on the border with Iraq; and Agri, near the Iranian border. Those staying in and around Ankara live in the gecekondu slums, described above, where many internally displaced persons also live in impoverished conditions. Generally, refugees who are recognized as such both by UNHCR and the government are permitted to reside in the satellite cities pending their resettlement. In general, they live in hotels. Some, who are in need of more secure protection in Turkey, are sheltered in a guest house in Yozgut. UNHCR has established field offices in both Silopi (since 1991) and Agri (since mid-1995). Refugees in Silopi generally reside in mud-brick houses without electricity or running water with only minimum humanitarian aid. Until 1998, the refugees in Agri resided together in a hotel provided by UNHCR. When it was discovered that the hotel owner was extorting money from refugees, UNHCR moved them out of the hotel and provided them allowances to seek their own flats in the town. …

The Turkish authorities openly plan for preventing mass influxes from Iraq. In fact, the 1994 asylum regulation includes a provision stating that "it is essential to stop such a movement and the advance of asylum seekers at the border." This concern is based on two mass forced migrations in recent memory: the influx of about 60,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988 and the arrival on the Turkish border of about 450,000 in 1991.

In early February 1998, when U.S. airstrikes in Iraq appeared to be imminent, the Turkish press and television reported that 50,000 Turkish troops crossed the border to create a cordon to prevent a mass influx of Iraqi refugees. The troops reportedly crossed the Habur Bridge and took up positions along the Hezil River, as well as other points in northern Iraq and along the border. However, the Turkish government denied that its troops had crossed the border; it nevertheless announced that would-be Iraqi refugees would be held in northern Iraq and not permitted to cross into Turkey. Chief of the General Staff Husnu Dag said, "In case of a massive wave of refugees, a humanitarian support program will be implemented in northern Iraq in coordination with the Democratic Party of Kurdistan  (KDP), and gathering places will be arranged for refugees for humanitarian aid."

Turkey closed its border with Iraq again in December, when U.S. and British forces unleashed airstrikes on Iraq. …

During 1998, 2,790 Iraqis applied for asylum with the Turkish authorities. Turkey recognized 880 as asylum seekers and rejected 467, an approval rate of 65 percent. Those who were recognized were provided with temporary resident permits with the expectation that they would seek third-country resettlement through UNHCR; those who were rejected were told to leave the country within 15 days with the chance to appeal during that time.

In 1998, 2,350 Iraqis approached the UNHCR office seeking recognition as refugees. In the first ten months of the year, 70 percent of the cases appearing at UNHCR offices were Iraqis. UNHCR recognized 396 Iraqi cases, for a 29 percent approval rate of cases decided. At year's end, 2,362 Iraqi asylum cases were pending with UNHCR. A total of 765 Iraqis were resettled in third countries with UNHCR's assistance. The countries accepting the most were Norway and Canada. UNHCR has had some difficulty finding other third countries willing to resettle Iraqi refugees. For example, in its July mission to Turkey, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service approved only 23 percent of the Iraqi refugees that UNHCR referred for U.S. resettlement. Before making referrals to the U.S. resettlement program, UNHCR makes a refugee status determination and screens further to meet U.S. resettlement criteria.

An amendment to Turkey's Law on Residence and Travel of Foreign Subjects in April 1998 allowed foreigners with expired Turkish visas to apply for residence permits. The measure appeared to be aimed primarily at Iraqi Turkomans with expired visas. At year's end, it was not clear how many people had been able to legalize their stays.

No Iraqi refugees were known to have voluntarily repatriated to government-controlled Iraq in 1998, although 55 Iraqis did return to northern Iraq with UNHCR's assistance. However, because the Iraqi government insisted that all repatriation occur through government controls, in mid-year UNHCR stopped facilitating voluntary returns to northern Iraq.

During the year, a total of seven UNHCR recognized Iraqi refugees were forcibly returned. Although a nationality breakdown was not available, 49 asylum seekers were also forcibly returned during the year (n.d.).

The following information is from the UNHCR's 1999 Mid-Year Progress Report:

Major Developments, Progress Achieved and Constraints

Non-European Refugees

The increase in the number of asylum applications continued during the first half of 1999 and the planning figure for the year was revised upwards to 6,500 persons. A total of 1,369 asylum applications (representing 2,603 persons) were received, which corresponds to an increase of 8.2% with respect to the same period of the previous year. The decreasing trend of refoulement since 1995 continued in 1999 due to increased UNHCR presence in the border areas, where refugees and asylum seekers were counselled on Turkish asylum regulations, and due to improved relations with government officials.

During the first half of 1999, the "Programme in Support of Government's Training on Asylum and Refugee Issues" initiated in September 1998 continued and two study visits were organized to Canada and Spain for key government officials, providing opportunities to observe and study the asylum procedures in these countries. The concluding training session of the Programme, including officials from the Ministries of Interior and  Gendarmerie forces, was held in Van, eastern Turkey in late May 1999. Public information activities and cooperation with Turkish universities continue with the aim of raising public awareness.

As resettlement is the only durable solution for non-European refugees in Turkey, submissions for resettlement continued to be made as expeditiously as possible. By the end of June, a total of 848 refugees had departed to resettlement countries. During the period, an average of 2,400 refugees and asylum seekers received material assistance from UNHCR each month. Small informal education groups have been established in the cities, and children were provided with educational materials in Arabic and Farsi languages.

The increase in the asylum applications put a serious burden on UNHCR's eligibility determination procedure, resulting in a backlog of 950 cases to be interviewed or resolved by the end of June 1999. The backlog is also due to the reduction of staff in 1998 and the lack of financial means to recruit temporary eligibility staff.

Despite Turkey's adhesion to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the educational system does not make provision for children of non-European asylum seekers to attend school (n.d.).

In a 23 January 2000 article the Ankara Anatolia news agency provided the following information on UNHCR's operations in Turkey:

A total of 6,605 refugeeswho came to Turkey from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe applied to United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) to go to a third country.

Metin Corabatir, Press Speaker of UNHCR`s Ankara bureau said they received 6,339 applications from Middle Eastern countries, 191 from Asian countries, 72 from African countries and 3 from former Eastern Block countries. …

UNHCR …  accepted the 40 percent of the applications.

Corabatir noted that those who escape from war like in Kosovo and Chechnya are immediately given refugee status. Those who are called ``urban refugees`` are the people who were exposed to pressure due to the activities of the opposition in their countries. If their applications are accepted, these people are also sent to a third country as a refugee.

Granting refugee status to a person is a sensitive issue, Corabatir noted. A person has to be considered a refugee if he can face cruelty once he is sent back to his country and there is an appeals system to prevent this, he explained.

In 1998, Turkey received 4,672 applications and UNHCR opened a bureau in the eastern province Van as the entrances increased from Iran and Iraq.

Placement of refugees take about 1,5 years after they officially make an application and they are provided help during this time.

The following information relates to Turkey's refoulement and/or deportation of Iraqi persons. A 30 October 1999 article from a Website identified as that of the Communist Party of Iran claims that "Farhad Faraj Ameen, member of the Central Committee of the Organisation of Communist Revolutionaries, was assassinated in the city of Suleimanieh, Iraqi Kurdistan." The article alleges that he had fled to Turkey in 1997 and that his claim for political asylum was rejected by the UNHCR and that he was subsequently deported to Iraqi Kurdistan (ibid.).

There are also a number of reports from 1998 and onwards from Ankara Anatolia News Agency concerning the deportation of Iraqis who were captured after "illegally" entering Turkey. In May 1998, 65 persons from Iraq, Bangladesh and Iran were detained in Turkey and, according to Ankara Anatolia, "once the interrogations [with the Soke Gendarmerie Office] finish, they will be deported" (4 May 1998). In a number of reports on the capture of Iraqis, this news agency stated "officials said the Iraqis will be deported once the legal proceedings are completed": 21 Iraqis in Van Province (ibid. 10 June 1998), 56 Iraqis in Edirne  Province (ibid. 12 June 1998), 53 Iraqis in Van Province (10 Sept. 1998), 59 "immigrants" in Mugla Province, including 52 Iraqis (ibid. 4 Sept. 1998), 11 Iraqis in Erzurum Province (ibid. 22 Dec. 1998), and 27 Iraqis in Gungoren District of Istanbul (ibid. 27 Jan. 1999). A 31 August 1998 Ankara Anatolia report stated that 39 Iraqis captured in Hamur Province had been deported, while a 21 August 1998 report stated that 87 Iraqis captured in Mugla Province had been sent back to Iraq. Another August 1998 report stated that 52 Iraqis captured in Edirne Province "will be deported following their questioning" (ibid. 11 Aug. 1998). 151 persons, including Iraqis, captured in Edirne Province in February 2000, "were sent to Foreigners' Department of Edirne Police to be deported" (ibid. 28 Feb. 2000), as were the 99 persons, including Iraqis, captured in March 2000 in the same province (ibid. 13 Mar. 2000). On 16 November 1998, Ankara Anatolia wrote:

A total of 15 thousand Iraqis who entered Turkey illegally were captured and deported within last two years, it was reported on Monday. Officials told the A.A correspondent that they have tightened the security measures at the border regions with Iraq to prevent Iraqis from violating the Turkish borders and the passport law. Iraqis try to proceed to foreign countries illegally because of the economic reasons and lack of security in Northern Iraq. Officials added, ``people ventures any way to flee from the clashes between the groups loyal to the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which claimed many lives. Iraqis who succeed in entering Turkey illegally, try to proceed to European counties by boats, but most of them die at the accidents.`

The U.S. Committee for Refugees stated that in 1997 there were 189 "involuntary returns and expulsions" of Iraqis from Turkey (n.d.).

For further information on Turkey's refoulement of Iraqi persons, please consult Amnesty International's September 1997 publication, Turkey: Refoulement of Non-European Refugees – A Protection Crisis.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Ankara Anatolia [Ankara, in English]. 13 March 2000. "Turkey: 99 Illegal Immigrants Captured in Edirne." (FBIS-WEU-2000-0313 13 Mar. 2000/WNC)

_____. 28 February 2000. "Turkey: Police Catch 146 Illegal Immigrants in Edirne." (FBIS-WEU-2000-0228 28 Feb. 2000/WNC)

_____. 23 January 2000. "Turkey: 6,605 Refugees Apply to UNHCR to Go to 3d Country." (FBIS_WEU-2000-0123 23 Jan. 2000/WNC)

_____. 27 January 1999. "Turkey: 27 Illegal Iraqi Immigrants Captured in Istanbul." (FBIS-WEU-99-027 27 Jan. 1999/WNC)

_____. 22 December 1998. "Turkey: Eleven Illegal Immigrants Captured in Erzurum." (FBIS-WEU-98-356 22 Dec. 1998/WNC)

_____. 16 November 1998. "Turkey: Total of 15,000 Iraqis Deported Within 2 Years." (FBIS-WEU-98-320 16 Nov. 1998/WNC)

_____. 10 September 1998. "Turkey: Total of 53 Iraqi Illegal Immigrants Captured in Van." (FBIS-WEU-98-253 10 Sept. 1998/WNC)

_____. 4 September 1998. "Turkey: Total of 59 Illegal Immigrants Captured." (FBIS-WEU-98-248 5 Sept. 1998/WNC)

_____. 31 August 1998. "Turkey: Security Forces Capture 39 Illegal Iraqi Immigrants." (FBIS-WEU-98-244 1 Sept. 1998/WNC)

_____.21 August 1998. "Turkey: Total of 100 Foreign Immigrants Deported." (FBIS-WEU-98-233 21 Aug. 1998/WNC)

_____.11 August 1998. "Turkey: 52 Illegal Iraqi Immigrants Caught on Greek Border." (FBIS-WEU-98-223 11 Aug. 1998/WNC)

_____.12 June 1998. "Turkey: Total of 56 Illegal Iraqis Captured in Edirne." (FBIS-WEU-98-163 12 June 1998/WNC)

_____.10 June 1998. "Turkey: Total of 21 Illegal Immigrants From Iraq Captured in Van." (FBIS-WEU-98-161 10 June 1998/WNC)

_____. 4 May 1998. "Turkey: Total of 65 Illegals From Iraq, Bangladesh, Iran Captured." (FBIS-WEU-98-124 4 May 1998/WNC)

Communist Party of Iran (CPI), London. 30 October 1999. "UNHCR Returns Refugee to His Killers." [Accessed 24 Mar. 2000]

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva. n.d. 1999 Mid-Year Progress Report – Operations in Turkey. [Accessed 3 Apr. 2000]

_____. September 1999. "The World; Europe: Turkey." [Accessed 4 Apr. 2000]

U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR). 1999. 1999 Country Report. [Accessed 3 Apr.

_____. n.d. "Involuntary Returns and Expulsions - 1997." [Accessed 4 Apr. 2000]

Foreigners Borders and Refugees Department, General Directorate of Security, Ministry of Interior, Government of Turkey. 1998. Illegal Migration and Human Trafficking. Ankara: Ministry of Interior.

_____. 30 November 1994. "The Regulation on the Procedures and the Principles Related to Population Movements and Aliens Arriving in Turkey Either As Individuals or in Groups Wishing to Seek Asylum Either From Turkey or Requesting Residence Permission in Order to Seek Asylum From Another Country." Ankara: Ministry of Interior.