Former Turkish pro-Kurdish MP seeks political asylum in Greece

by Aggelos Skordas

A Turkish former MP for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party has requested political asylum in Greece after fleeing her country and illegally crossing the borders on the northeastern region of Evros. Leyla Birlik, a 44-year-old has been detained by Greek police and according to CNN Turk she is in the process of requesting asylum in Greece, while a prosecutor ordered her release until her request has been examined.

Birlik fled Turkey in violation of her conditional prison release terms as on January 2017 she was banned from leaving the country on suspicion of involvement with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In 2018 the pro-Kurdish former MP was sentenced to 21 months in prison for publicly “insulting president Recep Tayyip Erdogan” in 2015 but was freed pending appeal. Birlik had also been arrested in 2016 along with other HDP members on separate terror-related charges. She was once again released pending trial with a ban on international travel.

According to Greek media, before being transferred to the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis, Birlik was received by other Kurdish asylum seekers in Greece.

In February a group of 17 Turkish nationals landed on the eastern Greek island of Oinousses after fleeing Turkey for fear of political persecution.

Following the failed coup attempt of July 2016, Turkish authorities are still cracking down on alleged plotters. Two years later the Erdogan regime has sacked some 150,000 public workers, state officials, army officers, academics and other state employees while more than 50,000 people have been arrested.

Greek authorities estimate that over 1,800 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in the country in 2017, while another 1,839 applied for asylum within 2018. At the same time, more than 5,000 people have been prevented from fleeing Turkey on suspicion of being members of the US-based imam and opposition figure Fethullah Gulen network, which the Turkish government says was behind the attempted coup.

Birlik’s case could deepen the crisis between Ankara and Athens, who have also clashed over the extradition of eight Turkish servicemen wanted in Turkey for alleged involvement in the failed coup. Ankara considers the HDP to have links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, including the United States and the European Union.