European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) stated that Turkey violated human rights regarding the deportation of 19 Uzbek nationals.
In a case known as “Ghorbanov and Others v. Turkey”, which involved 19 Uzbek nationals’ complaints against Turkey, the ECHR said Turkey breached Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 5 (right to liberty and security / right to be informed of the reasons for deprivation of liberty) of the European Conventions of Human Rights.
The court decision further say as follows:
"The case concerned the deportation of the applicants by the Turkish authorities to Iran. The applicants were granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Iran. However, they fled to Turkey in September 2007, where they were granted refugee certificates by the UNHCR, received food rations, and sent their children to school. The applicants claimed that on 12 September 2008 they had been invited to go to the police headquarters in Van, eastern Turkey, to receive their food rations and school stationary. They were then placed in detention, and forcibly deported to Iran later that evening. One week later they returned to Turkey illegally, but were collected from their homes on 11 October 2008 and deported again later that day. They claimed that they had been left to walk between villages on the Iran-Turkey border for 10 days in winter conditions."
According to the decision of the ECHR, Turkey will pay EUR 10,000 to each applicant (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 3,350 to the applicants jointly (costs and expenses).
