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

Maria Papamina 209 ers that Turkey is the country with the highest number of ECtHR convictions. We further remind that the High Court of the country, as well as the Councils of Jus- tices, have repeated found, resolving on requests of Turkish refugee extraditions, that Turkey lacks basic safeguards of the rule of law, including respect of Articles 3 and 6 of ECHR. In the context of such extradition cases, Turkey sends the Greek authorities assurances regarding the fair treatment that Turkish refugees will have upon their return; however, extradition requests are rejected and the courts are relying among others on valid and reliable sources. To the contrary, Council of State decisions fail to take into account the state that now prevails in Turkey after the failed attempt of a coup in July 2016 and its im- pact as regards respect of human rights, as this has been recorded among oth- ers both by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks , the Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe, the Special Attaché of the Secretary-General of the Coun- cil of State, Tomáš Boček, which refer to ‘ almost unlimited discretionary powers for administrative authorities and the executive by derogation from general prin- ciples of rule of law and human rights safeguards, 7 measures that went beyond what is permitted by the Turkish Constitution and by international law, 8 systematic limitation of Syrian refugee’s access event to the status of provisional protection, the restriction of the access of UNHCR and NGOs in detention centres, the prac- tice of de facto and arbitrary detection of Syrian refugees returned from Greece under readmission procedures and finally expressing concerns regarding whether Turkish authorities comply with the principle of non-refoulement. Finally, the Council of State, by a marginal majority (13-12), decided not to send a preliminary request to the EU Court of Justice regarding the interpretation of Article 38 (Safe Third Country) of Directive 2013/32/ΕU, including the question of characterizing “safe” a country that has ratified the Geneva Convention with a geographical limitation. This failure to send a preliminary question is contrary to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which stipulates that in the event that a question arises with regard to the interpretation of Treaties or on the prestige and interpretation of the actions of institutional or other bodies or organisations of the Union, before the Court of a Member State whose decisions are final, the national Court must forward the question to the Court of Justice of the European 7. Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights, Memorandum on the human rights implications of the measures taken under the state of emergency in Turkey, CommDH(2016) 35/07 October 2016, https://rm.coe.int/16806db6f1, § 11. 8. European Commission for Democracy though Law (Venice Commission), Opinion No. 865 / 2016, “Opinion on Emergency Decree Laws nos. 667-676 adopted following the failed coup of 15 July 2016”, Adopted by the Venice Commission at its 109th Plenary Session (Venice, 9-10 December 2016), 12 December 2016, http://www.venice.coe.int/ webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2016)037-e, par. 226.