ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ: ΕΞΕΛΙΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΕΔΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΚΛΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΕ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Maria Papamina 207 requests not on the basis of their substance, but on the basis of their admissibility, having resolved that Turkey met with the criteria of a safe third country. According to two out of the six criteria 2 that must cumulatively exist to consider a country a safe third country: the country must provide for “ the possibility to request refugee status and, if found to be a refugee, to receive protection in ac- cordance with the Geneva Convention ” and this country must comply with the principle of non-refoulement under the Geneva Convention. We remind that Turkey has in fact ratified the Geneva Convention and the Protocol of 1967, but retains a geographical limitation for non-European asylum-seekers: Syrian refugees in Turkey have no right to request asylum, but are entitled to a status of provisional protection that, far from being a status of international pro- tection under the Geneva Convention, is only an optional step, which is enforced by decision of Turkey’s Council of Ministers, can be revoked anytime, without any guarantee or provision in the event that this status ceases to exist or is revoked, while the beneficiaries of this provisional status are effectively excluded from their possible future integration in Turkey. Regarding this specific criterion, the Council of State found by a majority decision that “ it is not required that the third country has ratified the Geneva Convention (in fact without geographical limitation) or has established by law a system to protect foreign nationals, which in addition to the principle of non-refoulement would also ensure all other rights foreseen in the aforementioned Convention.” It is worth noting however that according to the dissenting opinion of the Vice- Chairman and a Councilor of the Court, the said criterion cannot be considered met, considering that among others the Turkish law does not provide the right to foreign Syrian originals to seek the status of refugee, in the light of the geographi- cal limitation that Turkey retained when signing the Geneva Convention. 2. “A country may be considered a safe third country for a particular asylum-seeker, when all six criteria below are met: (a) life and liberty are not threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion; (b) that country respects the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with the Geneva Convention; (c) there is no risk for the applicant’s serious injury according toArticle 15, P.D. 141/2013; (d) that country prohibits the removal of an asylum seeker to a country where he or she risks to be subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as laid down in international law; (e) the possibility exists to request refugee status and, if found to be a refugee, to receive protection in accordance with the Geneva Convention; and (f) the asylum seeker has a connection with the said third country, on the basis of which it would be reasonable for that person to go to that country.”