CAT/C/TUR/CO/4
announced at the end of its visit to Turkey from 14 to 18 March 2016.1 With regard to the
issue of the missing persons in Cyprus, the Committee appreciates the State party’s
cooperation with the Committee on Missing Persons to ensure progress in the search for
and identification of remains of missing persons. However, it is concerned that, while the
State party has indicated that the Attorney General’s office of the Turkish Cypriot
authorities has completed its review of 94 case files returned to it by the Committee on
Missing Persons, no criminal investigations have been opened and no other measures have
been taken to ensure accountability for the perpetrators in any of these cases. The
Committee is also concerned that the State party has not implemented the decision of the
European Court of Human Rights in Cyprus v. Turkey (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 16).
22.
Recalling its previous recommendation (see CAT/C/TUR/CO/3, para. 9), the
State party should take appropriate measures to ensure effective and impartial
investigations into all outstanding cases of alleged enforced disappearance, prosecute
the perpetrators and, where appropriate, punish them and provide compensation to
the families of the victims. The Committee calls upon the State party to continue
cooperation with the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and to enhance efforts
to ensure criminal accountability for perpetrators. It encourages the State party to
consider ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance.
Refugees, asylum-seekers and non-refoulement
23.
While acknowledging the existing legal framework, in particular the Law on
Foreigners and International Protection, which provides temporary protection and
assistance for asylum seekers and refugees, the Committee notes with concern that the State
party maintains the geographical limitation to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees. It is also concerned by several reports of expulsion, return or deportation, in
violation of the non-refoulement principle contained in article 3 of the Convention.
According to the information before the Committee, the State party may have acted in
breach of the principle of non-refoulement with regard to hundreds of Syrian nationals
reportedly returned to their country of origin since mid-January 2016. The Committee is
concerned about other recent cases in which around 30 Afghan asylum seekers were
reportedly returned to Afghanistan in March 2016 without being granted access to asylum
procedures. The Committee is further concerned at reports according to which Turkish
Armed Forces opened fire on people trying to cross Turkey’s southern border in April
2016, although it notes that the State party’s delegation denied these allegations of
wrongdoing, claiming that the 18 persons killed were “PKK terrorists” trying to reach the
Syrian Arab Republic. Lastly, the Committee regrets that the State party has not provided
complete information on the procedures in place for the timely identification of victims of
torture among asylum seekers (art. 3).
24.
The State party should:
(a)
Strengthen its domestic framework by continuing to develop a new
asylum system consistent with international standards and in accordance with
article 3 of the Convention;
(b)
Consider lifting the geographical limitation to the 1951 Convention by
withdrawing its reservations;
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