Refugee Council criticizes deportations to Turkey

The Saxon Refugee Council criticizes deportations of Kurds to Turkey. A few years ago, the consensus in Germany was that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was transforming the country into an autocracy - with serious consequences for critical journalists and members of the opposition, said spokesperson Dave Schmidtke. "Today, there is amnesia among the authorities."

In a specific case from Saxony, the Refugee Council is calling for a Kurdish activist and writer not to be deported. The man is being held in custody pending deportation in Dresden and is on hunger strike.

The pressure exerted by the Turkish authorities on Kurdish civil society, activists and political officials remains high, according to the Refugee Council. It is known that even minor expressions of solidarity for Kurds can lead to long prison sentences. Deportations of politically persecuted persons to Turkey should therefore be generally suspended.