The following categories of persons are excluded of benefitting from temporary protection in Türkiye:[1]
- Persons for whom there is serious reason to believe that they have been guilty of acts defined in Article 1F of the 1951 Convention;
- Persons for whom there is serious reason to believe that they have engaged in acts of cruelty, for whatever rationale, prior to arrival in Türkiye;
- Persons who have either participated in or provoked crimes or acts referred to in 1 and 2 above;
- Persons, who, having participated in armed conflict in country of origin, have not permanently ceased armed activities after arrival in Türkiye;
- Persons proven to have engaged, planned or participated in terrorist activities;
- Persons who have been convicted of a serious crime and therefore deemed to be presenting a threat against society; and those who are deemed to present danger to national security, public order and public security;
- Persons, who prior to their arrival in Türkiye, committed crimes that would be punishable with a prison sentence in Türkiye, and have left country of origin or residence in order to avoid punishment;
- Persons convicted of crimes against humanity by international courts;
- Persons who commit any of the crimes listed in Article 4(7) of the Turkish Criminal Code i.e. crimes related to state secrets and espionage.
Such cancellation is applied in practice for temporary protection holders designated as foreign terrorist fighters (YTS), for example, even where criminal proceedings have not led to a conviction.[2] In some cases, PMM has also ordered cancellation on the basis of Article 8(1)(e) TPR.[3] It has also been applied in cases of inconsistencies between the personal details in the Temporary Protection Identification Document and the passport of the refugee, which have been determined as provision of misleading information to PMM.[4]
PMM is responsible and authorised to carry out and finalise the exclusion assessments and to communicate exclusion decisions to the persons concerned. Where it is identified that an existing beneficiary falls within the exclusion grounds listed above, their temporary protection status shall be cancelled. PMM can delegate this power to governorates as of 25 December 2019.[5]
Nevertheless, given that the LFIP provides for a derogation from non-refoulement, temporary protection beneficiaries may also be subject to removal procedures without their status being cancelled.
Beneficiaries of temporary protection were not informed by the authorities of the cancellation of their protection in 2022. They did not receive any written document providing the grounds for such cancellation; thus preventing any possibilities to appeal. Most of them learned about the cancellation of their temporary protection when going to a PDMM for other reasons, such as updating data or when their General Health Insurance (GSS) was deactivated.
Address verification has been in place as from 2019 nationwide. If it is determined that the person is not in the province where they are registered, their registration is deactivated, but it is not canceled. In 2022, the Ministry of Interior Affairs announced that 122,000 Syrians were not found at their registered address and 3,791,198 addresses got verified.[6] It is legally impossible to deport many of the people so PMM has difficulty imposing a sanction. If the Syrian applicant cannot be found at the specific address, their IDs can be cancelled which renders access to rights and services in Türkiye virtually impossible. Their IDs were reactivated when they went to PDMM, but those who could not go to PDMM lost their IDs. It is estimated by Syrian led NGOs and activists that 150 000 IDs have been cancelled as of April 2022.[7] At the same time, it is difficult to get an appointment from the Syrian Embassy, and people have to pay.
[1] Article 8(1) TPR.
[2] Information provided by various stakeholders, May and June 2023.
[3] See e.g. Administrative Court of İzmir, Decision 2018/692, 29 November 2018, which quashed a cancellation decision on the basis that the conviction had not been established.
[4] Information provided by a stakeholder, May 2023.
[5] Article 12(2) TPR.
[6] Independent Turkey, İçişleri Bakan Yardımcısı Çataklı: Suriyeli mültecilerden 122 bini kayıp, 22 June 2022, available at : https://bit.ly/3OesYvx.
[7] Rudaw, ‘Algazi: The annulment of the identity of 150 thousand Syrians marks a change in policy’, 20 April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3OR05U0.