"When Will Mohsen Abdolkhani and Hamid Karimnia Be Released?"

"When are Mohsen Abdolkhani and Hamid Karimnia going to be released? When is the ECHR's decision in favor of their rights going to be applied? What are the arrangements in context with this decision?"

These are the questions Diyarbakır MP Gülten Kışanak from the Democratic Society Party (DTP) is asking Minister of the Interior Beşir Atalay in a motion he handed to the Turkish National Assembly (TBMM) Presidency.

Turkey is to pay 40,000 Euro

Kışanak reminds the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from 22 September. The decision criticized Turkey's insufficient immigration regulations and asylum legislation and pointed out the need for basic amendments.

The ECHR convicted Turkey to pay 40,000 Euro (about 88,000 Turkish Lira) in compensation to Iranian refugees Abdolkhani and Karimnia for deporting them. The refugees sought asylum in Turkey because they had to fear for their lives after leaving the Iranian People's Mujahedin Organization. The ECHR decided that Turkey will be guilty of violating article 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (right to liberty and security) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights (AİHS) in case the two Iranian dissidents will experience another attempt of deportation.

"Nothing has been done despite the decision and although Abdolkhani and Karimnia are staying in the Gaziosmanpaşa Foreigners Admittance Center in the city of Kırklareli for almost a year now".

Further questions Kışanak asked to Atalay are quoted as follows,

* How many people are in the accommodations for foreigners or refugee housings and Admittance Centers, for which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sorted out refugee or asylum seekers documents or which took the attention of the UNHCR in another way?

* How many cases have been filed by the ECHR upon foreigners from foreigners accommodation houses or refugee housings and Admittance Centers which had previously been decided to their disadvantage in Turkey? What were the results of those cases? How many of them are still continuing?

* Are you thinking about subjecting the people in the foreigners accommodation houses or refugee housings and Admittance Centers to free residency until the new decision to the disadvantage of Turkey and the legal amendments comes into force?

* For how many days can a foreigner be kept in a foreigners accommodation house or refugee housing and Admittance Center upon a ministerial order? Do any regulations or circulars exist for the procedures in these centers?

* Will Human Rights Organizations be included in the process of the amendments? (EZÖ/VK)