Published : 18-10-2016
The Turkish government issued a decision stipulating a transit visa as a precondition to let Palestinian refugees in.
The decision implies that Palestinian refugees will have to submit an application for a visa at the embassy of their country of residence, in a move that sets another stumbling block before Palestinian refugees’ access out of and into Turkey after they fled war-torn Syria.
According to AGPS reporters, a number of Palestinian and Syrian refugee families have been detained by the Turkish authorities for overstaying their transit visas.
A Palestinian-Syrian family, previously taking refuge in Beirut, was arrested by the Turkish forces on its way to Denmark via Istanbul. The family was released afterwards following pressure from the Danish Embassy in Turkey. Another Palestinian-Syrian family was arrested in Turkey on way to Sudan.
The London-based AGPS documented cases of arbitrary delays of projected flights for Palestinian Syrian refugees heading to Europe via Turkish airports despite the fact that they had obtained leaves from Turkish authorities.
The Turkish government attributed the restrictions to an emerging ambiguity in handling the affair due to the absence of a travel-document-folder for the Palestinians among the travel procedures officially adopted by the country. Palestinian Syrians are not therefore treated as Syrians despite the fact that they hold Syrian identity documents. However, clinics and hospitals, along with unofficial authorities, consider them as Syrians.
The Turkish government issued a decision stipulating a transit visa as a precondition to let Palestinian refugees in.
The decision implies that Palestinian refugees will have to submit an application for a visa at the embassy of their country of residence, in a move that sets another stumbling block before Palestinian refugees’ access out of and into Turkey after they fled war-torn Syria.
According to AGPS reporters, a number of Palestinian and Syrian refugee families have been detained by the Turkish authorities for overstaying their transit visas.
A Palestinian-Syrian family, previously taking refuge in Beirut, was arrested by the Turkish forces on its way to Denmark via Istanbul. The family was released afterwards following pressure from the Danish Embassy in Turkey. Another Palestinian-Syrian family was arrested in Turkey on way to Sudan.
The London-based AGPS documented cases of arbitrary delays of projected flights for Palestinian Syrian refugees heading to Europe via Turkish airports despite the fact that they had obtained leaves from Turkish authorities.
The Turkish government attributed the restrictions to an emerging ambiguity in handling the affair due to the absence of a travel-document-folder for the Palestinians among the travel procedures officially adopted by the country. Palestinian Syrians are not therefore treated as Syrians despite the fact that they hold Syrian identity documents. However, clinics and hospitals, along with unofficial authorities, consider them as Syrians.
