A Christian family is at risk of deportation from Türkiye to Iran

A Christian family with their two children are at risk of deportation from Turkey to Iran.

A Christian family named Mohsen Mokhtari and his wife Azita Ramezani, along with their two children, 16-year-old Yona and 7-year-old Yoel, are in critical condition. They were arrested in the city of Denizli on October 21 of this year and transferred to a refugee camp in the city of Ağrı, where they are at risk of deportation to Iran.

This Christian family, following their activities in a house church in Iran and due to their peaceful activities and beliefs, had been repeatedly threatened and interrogated by the government of the Islamic Republic, and were eventually forced to leave Iran for Turkey in 2014. Upon arrival in Turkey, Mr. Mokhtari's family announced their request for asylum to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara.

When Mohsen Mokhtari and his family arrived in Turkey, their daughter Yona was only 6 years old. In 2016, after an interview, they received UN acceptance in Turkey and their case was referred to the resettlement department. The family was detained even though they had received UN acceptance two years after entering Turkey, but the immigration police have now taken action to detain them.

Their precarious situation caused Mohsen Mokhtari's mother, "Pooran Hoshiari," to travel to Turkey to visit him. After learning about their situation, she suffered a cardiac arrest and lost her life. This was because returning the family to Iran would have resulted in their imprisonment, and unfortunately, Mr. Mokhtari's mother could not bear such an event.

According to published reports on the situation of refugees in Turkey, who have been in limbo in this country for years, waiting for acceptance or resettlement, in the past few years, all refugee cases have been referred to the Turkish immigration police, and the UN is no longer responsible for reviewing refugee cases. This has led to even those who had received UN acceptance in previous years being interviewed again by the Turkish immigration police, and in many cases their cases have been rejected. Many of them were transferred to deportation camps or preferred to leave Turkey illegally rather than being deported to Iran, and due to the great risks, they left Turkey.

It should be noted that human rights activists have repeatedly warned about the situation of refugees in Turkey, especially political and ideological activists, and the dangers that threaten their lives, as well as their deportation to Iran.