Author
Prior to EU accession, national lists of safe countries of origin and third safe countries were adopted annually by the SAR and applied extensively to substantiate negative first instance decisions. The national courts adopted a practice that the concepts can only be applied as a rebuttable presumption that could be contested by the asylum seeker in every individual case.[1] In 2007, the national law was amended to regulate the adoption of national lists on the basis of EU common lists under Article 29 of the 2005 Asylum Procedures Directive. As a result, since the adoption of this amendment safe countries’ lists were not adopted for a period of nineteen years from 2005[2] until 2024. As a part of different institutional re-arrangements in effort to support the country’s full Schengen accession, on 3 April 2024 the government adopted[3] safe country of origin and safe third countries’ lists
F. The safe country concepts includes sections on:
[1] See e.g. Supreme Administrative Court, Decision No 4854, 21 May 2002.
[2] The last national annual lists were adopted with Decision №329/2005 of the Council of Ministers, in which Türkiye was not enlisted as a safe country of origin nor as a third safe country.
[3] COM №247 from 3 April 2024.