Sleepless Minds
Absurdity of pushback practices
Odai, recognized refugee in Germany got illegally deported from Greece to Turkey, while visiting his brother in Greece
Pushbacks do not only happen directly at the borders of the European Union. People are also regularly picked up by the police in camps and cities in Greece and illegally expelled across the border to Turkey. Pushbacks have become increasingly more extremely frequent throughout 2020, but the phenomenon is nothing new and has been occurring for decades.
The case of Odai illustrates the absurdity of this racist and inhumane practice. Odai is a young man from Syria. He fled Syria 6 years ago, arrived in Germany 2017 and received refugee status and a residence certificate for three years. He started his life in Germany, made friends, reached B2 German level and attended a secondary school.
His family was still living in Syria. After two years, his younger brother also had to flee to avoid being forced into military service. He managed to reach Greece. Odey was overjoyed. Finally, he would be able to see his brother again after six years! His German identity papers allowed him to enter Greece legally. So he flew from Munich to Thessaloniki in May 2019. His brother had been in the city for three days and was waiting for him with two friends at the central bus station. The brothers fell into each other's arms. He had last seen his brother when he was 10 years old. He described the moment of reunion:
"It was like time stood still, all the years fell away from us, I could only see him and not believe he was really standing in front of me."
But the joy of reunion was quickly taken away from them. Still at the bus station, the brothers had barely been able to exchange a few words with each other when they were surrounded by numerous police officers. Odey was the only one of the group who could show a passport. And the only one from whom the police could take this passport. They forcefully pushed the four young men, three of them sixteen years old, into a white minivan.
"There were no seats, but there was a dog," Odey recalls. "I tried to speak to them in German, but they didn't understand me. Then I tried in English, but the policeman just shouted at me and they took us to prison."
There they were detained for a day, without access to food, water or toilets. The next day, another policeman came and informed the group that they would be taken "back" to Turkey. Once again they were loaded into a car, along with six other people. So they were driven towards Turkey for 8 hours until they reached a town near the border, where they were again locked up for a day.
"Then a Greek policeman came and took our money, and our cell phones and documents. Four soldiers took us to the border and sat with us in the boat across the border river. We reached Turkey on 05.05.2019."
Shortly after their involuntary arrival in Turkey, they were arrested by Turkish police and detained for 10 months. They were accused of illegal border crossing and spying for Greece. When Turkey opened its border with Greece in March 2020, they were released from prison together with all prisoners of different nationalities and brought to Edirne. There we met Odai. But as we reported on our blog at the time, all the people there were being held in no-man's land under undignified conditions, pushed towards Greece by Turkey, and pushed back by force by Greece.
So Odai and his brother ended up stranded in Istanbul. He tried again and again to get an appointment at the German Embassy, but in vain. Since he could not show any identification documents - his documents from Germany had been taken from him and he could not register in Turkey for fear of being deported to Syria - he could not get an appointment to apply for his return to Germany.
Finally, we were able to hire a lawyer for him and in June 2020, she started contacting the Foreign Office in Germany where he was registered. He received his German documents and was finally able to make an appointment at the German Embassy in August 2020. There, he was told that his application for the issuance of an entry visa and replacement passport would be reviewed. At the same time, the lawyer informed us that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Germany had initiated revocation proceedings, since Odai had not had his protection status in Germany extended and had left "voluntarily", so we were worried his asylum status would be revoked and we would have to file a lawsuit against it. Another few months passed, during which time Odai had to remain in Turkey, until finally the good news arrived that the revocation procedure had been stopped and he would be issued a visa. In January 2021, he was finally able to return to Germany. But, his brother is still stuck in Turkey.
Fates like Odai's are not isolated incidents. Without legal help, Odai would still be in Turkey. Germany made no effort whatsoever to have him brought back - and instead almost made the consequences of the pushback permanent.
Pushbacks do not only happen directly at the borders of the European Union. People are also regularly picked up by the police in camps and cities in Greece and illegally expelled across the border to Turkey. Pushbacks have become increasingly more extremely frequent throughout 2020, but the phenomenon is nothing new and has been occurring for decades.
The case of Odai illustrates the absurdity of this racist and inhumane practice. Odai is a young man from Syria. He fled Syria 6 years ago, arrived in Germany 2017 and received refugee status and a residence certificate for three years. He started his life in Germany, made friends, reached B2 German level and attended a secondary school.
His family was still living in Syria. After two years, his younger brother also had to flee to avoid being forced into military service. He managed to reach Greece. Odey was overjoyed. Finally, he would be able to see his brother again after six years! His German identity papers allowed him to enter Greece legally. So he flew from Munich to Thessaloniki in May 2019. His brother had been in the city for three days and was waiting for him with two friends at the central bus station. The brothers fell into each other's arms. He had last seen his brother when he was 10 years old. He described the moment of reunion:
"It was like time stood still, all the years fell away from us, I could only see him and not believe he was really standing in front of me."
But the joy of reunion was quickly taken away from them. Still at the bus station, the brothers had barely been able to exchange a few words with each other when they were surrounded by numerous police officers. Odey was the only one of the group who could show a passport. And the only one from whom the police could take this passport. They forcefully pushed the four young men, three of them sixteen years old, into a white minivan.
"There were no seats, but there was a dog," Odey recalls. "I tried to speak to them in German, but they didn't understand me. Then I tried in English, but the policeman just shouted at me and they took us to prison."
There they were detained for a day, without access to food, water or toilets. The next day, another policeman came and informed the group that they would be taken "back" to Turkey. Once again they were loaded into a car, along with six other people. So they were driven towards Turkey for 8 hours until they reached a town near the border, where they were again locked up for a day.
"Then a Greek policeman came and took our money, and our cell phones and documents. Four soldiers took us to the border and sat with us in the boat across the border river. We reached Turkey on 05.05.2019."
Shortly after their involuntary arrival in Turkey, they were arrested by Turkish police and detained for 10 months. They were accused of illegal border crossing and spying for Greece. When Turkey opened its border with Greece in March 2020, they were released from prison together with all prisoners of different nationalities and brought to Edirne. There we met Odai. But as we reported on our blog at the time, all the people there were being held in no-man's land under undignified conditions, pushed towards Greece by Turkey, and pushed back by force by Greece.
So Odai and his brother ended up stranded in Istanbul. He tried again and again to get an appointment at the German Embassy, but in vain. Since he could not show any identification documents - his documents from Germany had been taken from him and he could not register in Turkey for fear of being deported to Syria - he could not get an appointment to apply for his return to Germany.
Finally, we were able to hire a lawyer for him and in June 2020, she started contacting the Foreign Office in Germany where he was registered. He received his German documents and was finally able to make an appointment at the German Embassy in August 2020. There, he was told that his application for the issuance of an entry visa and replacement passport would be reviewed. At the same time, the lawyer informed us that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Germany had initiated revocation proceedings, since Odai had not had his protection status in Germany extended and had left "voluntarily", so we were worried his asylum status would be revoked and we would have to file a lawsuit against it. Another few months passed, during which time Odai had to remain in Turkey, until finally the good news arrived that the revocation procedure had been stopped and he would be issued a visa. In January 2021, he was finally able to return to Germany. But, his brother is still stuck in Turkey.
Fates like Odai's are not isolated incidents. Without legal help, Odai would still be in Turkey. Germany made no effort whatsoever to have him brought back - and instead almost made the consequences of the pushback permanent.
