In many cases, Kurds and opposition members from Turkey are not granted asylum status in Austria. A citizens’ initiative has launched a petition against this and submitted it to the National Council on 20 September. The petition will be discussed in the committee on 5 October. A decision is expected in December. The campaign “Political asylum is a human right – Turkey is not a safe country of origin” is supported by many celebrities.

The petition said: “According to the Geneva Refugee Convention, people who are persecuted for reasons of their political beliefs or ethnic identity must be granted asylum. However, we are concerned that in many cases, Kurds and opposition members from Turkey are currently not being granted the international protection they require in Austria.

If they return, they risk torture, imprisonment and inhumane and degrading treatment. The lack of rule of law in connection with horrendous human rights violations is regularly identified by international organizations and is internationally known. Nevertheless, the Austrian asylum authorities regularly do not deal with this sufficiently and, as a result, do not recognize any asylum-relevant persecution in the measures taken by the Turkish authorities.”

The petition added: “Through our citizens’ initiative, we want to show to what extent the citizens of Austria cannot understand these decisions because there is a lack of fact-based basis.

We demand international protection and, as a result, an immediate stop to deportations for affected people in Austria as well as an immediate reassessment of Turkey as a country of origin, taking serious account of the current political and humanitarian situation on site, especially in the Kurdish regions and for Kurdish activists. Austria must not become a sidekick of Erdogan’s assimilation and war policy against Kurds in general and political activists in particular.”

Support from politics and culture

Among the first signatories of the petition were many well-known people from Austria’s political and cultural landscape. The head of the SPÖ delegation in the EU Parliament, Andreas Schieder, expressed great concern for the dangerous developments regarding democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Turkey and said: “The Kurds in particular are severely affected by Erdogan’s policies, as fundamental freedom and human rights are not respected but rather undermined. The situation on the ground, particularly in the Kurdish areas and for the Kurdish people, is dangerous. I am therefore of the opinion that there must be an immediate stop to deportations from Austria to Turkey for the affected Kurds in Austria. A reassessment of Turkey as a safe country of origin is also urgently needed.”

Berîvan Aslan, member of the Green Party in the Vienna State Parliament, said: “People who have dedicated their lives to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in order to leave a life of dignity to future generations have not fled for nothing and become the target of anti-democratic minds. With this inhumane deportation practice, they accept and legitimize the inhumane policies of the Erdogan government!”

“Austria must adhere to the Geneva Refugee Convention”

Journalist and writer Susanne Scholl said that it was “inhumane to send people back to where they were and are being persecuted. Austria has a dark history that particularly obliges us to preserve and protect human rights. Deportations contradict human rights!”

SPÖ National Council member Katharina Kucharowits said: “Kurds and opposition members are threatened with arrest and torture in Turkey. Protecting people from this is our responsibility. I therefore support the call for a stop to deportations to Turkey and the renewed examination of whether Turkey is a safe country of origin.”

Director Katharina Mückstein also supported the demand to immediately stop deportations of politically persecuted Kurds to Turkey and said: “The Austrian federal government must adhere to the Geneva Refugee Convention and protect the lives and freedom of expression of those affected.”

Systematic oppression, persecution, political justice and torture

Author Gerhard Ruiss said: “With the exception of the death penalty, everything that makes an authoritarian state can be found in Turkey: systematic oppression of minorities, persecution of deviants, arbitrary arrests, political justice, torture, murders. For those who are affected by this situation, it makes no difference whether the conditions for those persecuted by authoritarian governments are even worse elsewhere. How can such a country, where all this is happening, be a safe country of origin for the opposition activists who have escaped from it?”

Protecting human rights as a moral responsibility

Journalist, author and activist Berfîn Marx said: “Kurds experience significant discrimination and marginalization in the diaspora, and it is our moral responsibility to protect their basic human rights. In Turkey, they face persecution because of their political beliefs or ethnic identity, and according to the Geneva Refugee Convention, they should be granted asylum. We must not allow Kurds in Austria to continue to be at risk of being deported, even when they are politically active in Turkey and are experiencing persecution there. The practice of systematically rejecting applications from Kurdish and other opposition activists must be urgently reconsidered. I call for international refugee protection to be upheld, as enshrined in the constitution. Austria must not become complicit in violating the right to political asylum.”

Writer and historian Doron Rabinovici said: “Being committed to human rights does not just mean respecting them within one’s own territory. For Austria, having signed the UN Convention Against Torture does not just mean not committing torture itself. We are obliged to protest those who in other countries – such as Turkey – use torture to persecute opponents.”