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PKK-Related Asylum Applications from Turkey: Counter-Terrorism Measures vs. Refugee Status
Abstract
More than forty thousand people in Turkey lost their lives because of PKK terrorist organization. While fighting against PKK since 1984, it is necessary for Turkey to limit some rights of PKK-related people through arrest, detention and interrogation for the pressing objectives of national security, territorial integrity and public order. Based on such limitations, there are PKK-related asylum applications from Turkey. However, these asylum applicants are quite restrictively excluded from refugee status and are commonly found as credible witnesses for their well-founded fear of persecution mainly for reason of political opinion. This paper questions the reasons that make such applicants granted refugee status by examining six case laws with positive decisions. It identifies two reasons, first, restrictive application of exclusion clauses and second, the subjectivity in the understanding of ‘necessary', which is one of the required conditions to limit human rights. Then, it provides three tentative suggestions for Turkey to enable applicants aiding and/or funding PKK to be excluded from refugee status and to prevent its counter-terrorism measures to be perceived as persecution by countries of asylum: a universally accepted definition of what constitutes terrorist offences, a stronger international presentation of counter-terrorism measures as necessary in a democratic society and a strict adherence to zero tolerance policy on torture.
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