2024-10-11

ISTANBUL/PARIS/UTRECHT - The European Union has helped Turkey to deport Syrian and Afghan refugees to situations of hardship, danger and even death through a system of arrest, detention and removal that has developed over time, this investigation has found.

A growing number of men, women and children are being arrested on the streets of Turkey, locked in removal centres where they are subjected to poor conditions and abuse and then forcibly sent back to their home countries where they face death or severe hardship – and Europe is knowingly providing financial support at every stage in this process.

In this detailed analysis of EU funding for migration management in Turkey to date, the team of journalists combed through EU and Turkish official reports and briefings, research papers, procurement and call for tenders documents, press requests and freedom of information requests. They submitted more than 20 freedom of information requests to European Commission agencies and complained to the ombudsman when many of these requests were denied.  

The team spoke with over a hundred sources, including 37 people who had been detained in Turkey’s removal centres, as well as Turkish, Syrian and Afghan officials and former removal centre staff. They collected and reviewed visual evidence, court rulings and hundreds of pages of EU-documents, to document systematic abuses and appalling conditions in the EU-funded removal centres. They also captured images and obtained documents indicating that EU-funded equipment is being used by Turkey to conduct mass arrests targeting refugees on the streets of Turkey and transport refugees back to Syria.

An investigation by Lighthouse Reports, in collaboration with El Pais, Der Spiegel, Politico, Etilaat Roz, SIRAJ, NRC, L’Espresso and Le Monde, provides the most comprehensive picture to date of this vast system of deportation, specifically of Afghan and Syrian nationals – whom the EU deems it unsafe to return – and how the EU is knowingly funding it. The team of journalists have identified individuals who, after being deported to Afghanistan or Syria by Turkey, have suffered severe harm – and in the worst cases death.

OTHER JOURNALISTS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE INVESTIGATION

Photo: ©Bülent Kiliç

Team members

Andrés Mourenza

Andrés Mourenza is a Spanish journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Andrés Mourenza

Mahmoud Naffakh

Mahmoud Naffakh is a Syrian investigative journalist based in Paris, France.

Portrait Mahmoud Naffakh

Bashar Deeb

Bashar Deeb is an open source investigative journalist based in Greece.

Bashar Deeb

Fahim Abed

Fahim Abed is an investigations editor with Lighthouse Reports. 

Portrait Fahim Abed

May Bulman

May Bulman (UK) is an investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports.

May Bulman

Charlotte Alfred

Charlotte Alfred is London-based senior editor of the Lighthouse Reports.

Charlotte Alfred
Media

Lighthouse Reports

Lighthouse Reports pioneers collaborative journalism and works with the world’s leading media to deliver deeply reported, public interest investigations.

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