Post-deportation risks under the EU-Turkey Statement : What happens after readmission to Turkey?

This policy brief examines whether asylum seekers readmitted from Greece to Turkey after the EU-Turkey Statement as of April 2016 were able to access effective protection in Turkey thereafter. The EU has long collaborated with countries of origin and transit in the form of migration compacts, readmission agreements and Memoranda of Understanding. The EU-Turkey Statement is different from prior forms of agreements because of the use of the safe-third-country concept. As a result, Greece can reject asylum applications of people who passed through Turkey as being inadmissible and shift the responsibility of merit assessments to Turkey. Whether Turkey can offer effective protection and be considered a safe-third-country is highly disputed. Despite political pressure and the Noori ruling by the Greek Council of state in September 2017, Greece has not yet deported an individual to Turkey on grounds of the safe-third-country concept.