STRASBOURG, France– The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had ruled against Turkey on charges of trying to deport two Iranian nationals who were recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Iranian nationals, Mohsen Abdolkhani and Hamid Karimnia, left Iran and entered a refugee camp in Iraq.  After the camp was closed in Iraq, the two went to Turkey where they were arrested and deported back to Iraq.  Despite the deportation, Abdolkhani and Karimnia immediately returned to Turkey.

Subsequently, they were arrested and convicted of illegal entry into Turkey.  Turkish efforts to have them deported to Iran in June of 2008 were unsuccessful as Iranian authorities refused their admission to the country.  After the Iranian denial of admission, the two refugees requested temporary asylum status but have yet to receive an answer as to their petition.

As part of their domestic law, Turkey imposes limitations on accepting asylum seekers based on their country of origin.  More specifically, Turkish law forbids asylum status to people of non-European origin as refugees.  Despite their domestic law, Turkey is a popular destination for refugee and asylum seekers.

In a publication by the Human Rights Research Association (IHAD), it was reported that over twenty-six hundred refugees were detained last month for violating border regulations and, of that number, 378 were deported.  Many experts believe that these deportations constitute violations of universal human rights principles.  The cases of Abdolkhani and Karimnia are a prime example of these possible violations.  In the statement released Tuesday, the ECHR decided that Turkey would be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights if they made another attempt at deportation of the two individuals.

The ECHR “was struck by the fact that both administrative and judicial authorities had remained totally passive regarding the applicants’ serious allegations of a risk of ill treatment if returned to Iraq or Iran.”  Furthermore, the Court was troubled by Turkey’s failure to consider the applicant’s requests for temporary asylum, to notify them of the reasons for not taking their asylum requests into consideration and for not authorizing them to have legal assistance.

Even prior to Tuesday’s decision, Turkey has been in the process of drafting new legislation to address the issue of refugees and asylum seekers.

For more information, please see:

Bianet- ECHR Convicted Turkey for Deportation of Iranian Refugees– 24 September 2009

Today’s Zaman- Court Ruling Puts Pressure on Turkey over Refugee Rights– 24 September 2009

Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights- Abdolkhani and Karimnia v. Turkey– 22 September 2009