|Published on: 31st July 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on Türkiye provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
Asylum procedure
- Key statistics: Türkiye hosted over 2.3 million refugees from Syria under the temporary protection regime in 2025. It also hosted approximately 166,000 asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. 6,430 people, including 3,472 Afghan nationals, applied for international protection in 2025 – the lowest number since 2010. According to official statistics, 160,253 “irregular migrants” were apprehended in 2025 (225,831 in 2024).
- Access to the territory: Türkiye continued to build walls and install surveillance infrastructure along its borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran in 2025. These measures forced people to shift to more dangerous, mountainous routes, including in winter months. Pushback practices continued at the border with Iran, particularly targeting single men from Afghanistan. Affected people sometimes faced arbitrary detention for several months before being pushed back without being held in formal removal centres or being given the opportunity to apply for protection.
- Arbitrary conduct of public officials: In 2025, public authorities’ practices regarding the status of people applying for or benefiting from international or temporary protection became increasingly arbitrary and unpredictable. Denial of access to the procedure, sudden cancellations, deactivations, apprehensions and rejections created significant uncertainty and hardship.
- Access to the procedure: Access to registration and re-registration remained one of the most significant barriers to accessing protection in 2025. Provinces in which provincial directorates for migration management were willing to accept applications throughout the year. Single men from Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq were particularly discriminated against and largely unable to access registration. 1,169 neighbourhoods in 63 provinces were formally closed to new registrations in 2025.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Severe problems regarding procedural safeguards in detention: Serious concerns were raised over the erosion of procedural safeguards and restrictions limiting both detainees and their lawyers from fully exercising their rights in 2025. Allegations included unpredictable and arbitrary detention and deportation processes, detention centres disregarding court-ordered releases, complaints of ill-treatment not being investigated due to denied investigation permits or incomplete camera footage, families and lawyers not being able to locate detainees, and the use of unofficial detention or transfer sites in which people were unable to access to lawyers, interpreters or their relatives.
- Lack of effective remedies: Overall, lawyers highlighted the inconsistency of court rulings in 2025 and noted that obtaining positive outcomes in procedures challenging administrative detention orders had become almost impossible.
Content of protection
- Withdrawal and revocation: There were cases of recognised refugees having their status revoked abruptly and missing their appeal deadline as they were unable to access NGO counselling in time.
- Opaque use of security grounds: People with minor or outdated criminal records or who attempted to file a legal complaint as a victim risked being apprehended on “public order” grounds. Security codes were applied in an opaque manner in order to justify deportation orders or deactivation of identity cards.
- Access to services and support: The significant cuts to international assistance programmes that took place following the change in the US administration in January 2025 forced many NGOs to scale down their operations. This had an adverse impact on the refugee population’s access to services and support. Separately, many protection beneficiaries were arbitrarily denied registration for general health insurance so they were unable to access healthcare.
Temporary protection
- Access to the procedure: The combination of a policy of non-registration, the regime change in Syria and constant official public encouragement of voluntary returns resulted in a decrease in the number of Syrian nationals under temporary protection in 2025 (2,347,756).
- Detention of Syrian nationals: Syrian nationals who entered Türkiye were transferred to temporary accommodation centres which became de facto detention facilities for people who were either not registered under temporary protection or who had had their status revoked. Affected people often faced indefinite detention and lawyers expressed concerns that they were discouraged from appealing deportation decisions and pressured into signing voluntary return forms.
- Returns to Syria: Turkish authorities allowed Syrians to make up to three “go-and-see” visits to Syria in the first half of 2025. However, most temporary protection beneficiaries adopted a cautious approach due to serious concerns about the state of infrastructure, healthcare, education and overall security conditions in the country. A significant challenge in the return process related to custodial disputes as single mothers were required to present the father’s consent for children to return to Syria, including in cases in which the father was untraceable. Official figures indicate that over 700,000 people have returned to Syria from Türkiye since December 2024.
The full report is available here.
