Page 46 - KDK

THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

Visit to Türkiye-Greece Cross border – On-site examination of violations of
human rights committed towards refugees (3 March) and the Special Report
(10 March)
The non-ending wars and
armed conflicts in Syria, Iraq
and other countries caused
the continuation of influx of
refugees who want to go to the
European countries via Türkiye.
The Republic of Türkiye,
already hosting more than 4
million refugees, announced
on 28 February 2020 that it
had no other choice but to allow them to cross in to
Europe in accordance with the international law, since
these migrants demanded to go to a European country.

Following this development, there had been irregular
influx of refugees on the Turkish-Greek border in the
city of Edirne and on the coast of the Aegean Sea.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees who escaped war
in order to survive had been desperately trying to reach
Europe. After large media coverage of the Greek security
forces using unnecessary, sometimes deadly force to
stop the passage of these refugees into Greece, the Chief
Ombudsman accompanied by his Delegation from the
Institution conducted a working visit to Edirne, a city
which is located on the Greece-Türkiye border, in order
to examine these allegations of violations of human rights on site on 03 March 2020.
Following this visit, a Special Report
was prepared by the Ombudsman
Institution of Türkiye about the human
rights violations committed by the Greek
security forces against migrants. This
Report was translated into English and
shared with 160 Ombudsman Institutions
and 23 human Rights institutions across
the World.

2020 ANNUAL REPORT 45