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Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 'Turkey does not respect the principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits the return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened' (Photo: Flickr)

Why EU can't count on Turkey to protect asylum seekers

The world owes thanks to Turkey for hosting the world's largest number of refugees, more than 3.9 million. It may seem counterintuitive to say that EU members shouldn't consider Turkey a "safe third country" for refugees and asylum seekers, but it isn't.

Safe third country designations enable countries to summarily reject asylum seekers on their territories on the presumption the country they travelled through, or some other country, can be trusted to examine their refugee claims and pr...

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Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Bill Frelick is refugee and migrant rights division director at Human Rights Watch.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 'Turkey does not respect the principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits the return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened' (Photo: Flickr)

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Author Bio

Bill Frelick is refugee and migrant rights division director at Human Rights Watch.

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