Statistics on pre-removal detention of asylum seekers and other migrants are not available. There are no statistics available on the number of persons applying from detention across the country either.
While most international protection applicants are not systematically detained, categories of international protection applicants most commonly detained include:
- Persons who make an international protection application in border premises;
- Persons who apply for international protection after being intercepted for irregular presence and being placed in a Removal Centre, including persons readmitted to Türkiye from another country;
- Persons who have made an application for international protection and are apprehended without documentation or outside their assigned province (“satellite city”) without authorisation;
- Persons issued a security restriction code, for example on suspicion of being foreign terrorist fighters (Yabancı Terörist Savaşçı, YTS).
While Removal Centres (Geri Gönderme Merkezi, GGM) are essentially defined as facilities dedicated for administrative detention for the purpose of removal, in practice they are also used to detain international protection applicants (see Place of Detention). There are 29 active Removal Centres (including two temporary removal centres).[1] At the beginning of 2023, there were 30 removal centres across the scountry with a total capacity of 18,000. However, following the earthquake disasters centred in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, the Hatay removal center with a capacity of 190 was closed, and the Malatya temporary removal center with a capacity of 2,100 was converted into a temporary shelter for earthquake victims. Consequently, in the first quarter of 2023, the number of removal centres nationwide decreased to 28, and the total capacity dropped to 15,710. In the last quarter of the year, the Bayburt Removal Center with a capacity of 400 was opened on October 13, 2023, bringing the total number of the centres to 29 with a total capacity of 16,110[2].
There is no official data on the number of asylum seekers detained in removal centres. However, many of these centres operate over capacity, and the turnover of people is very high[3]. A lawyer mentioned that sometimes, as many as 6,000 people are brought to Tuzla removal center in a single day[4].
The LFIP provides that international protection applications of detained applicants other than requiring that applications of detained applicants shall be finalised “as quickly as possible”,[5] and that they fall within the scope of the Accelerated Procedure.[6]
[1] PMM, Faaliyet Raporu, 2023, available here.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Information provided by stakeholders, March – April 2024.
[4] Bianet, “Bir Geri Gönderme Merkezine günde 6 bin kişi götürülüyor”, 21 September 2023, available here
[5] Article 68(5) LFIP.
[6] Article 79(1)(ç) LFIP.