New designation of Türkiye as a “safe third country” for refugees in defiant contempt of the Greek Council of State’s ruling

The Greek Council of State recently annulled the Joint Ministerial Decision designating Türkiye as a “safe third country”. On 9 April 2025, even before the Council of State’s decision was published, the Greek government released a new, similar Joint Ministerial Decision re-designating Türkiye as a “safe third country” for asylum seekers originating from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Ministers co-signed the new Joint Ministerial Decision, without waiting for the finalisation and publication of the Council of State judgment, in blatant violations of principles of legality and legal certainty and in dereliction of Article 95(5) of the Constitution, which provides that “[…] the administration has an obligation to comply with judicial decisions[…]”.

We highlight in particular that:

First, the Council of State annulled the previous Joint Ministerial Decision following an application for judicial review by our organisations. It held that the criteria set out in legislation in force for the designation of a country as a safe third country had not been properly assessed and in particular that the information contained in the available sources regarding the situation in Türkiye had not been specifically assessed. In their press release regarding the adoption of the new Joint Ministerial Decision, the competent Ministries claim that the new decision has been issued with “full justification, in compliance with the judgment of the Council of State”, which, however, has not yet been published (!).

We are not aware of the relevant recommendation of the Asylum Service, which has not been made public to date. The full or partial justification of the decision merits examination of said recommendation. We nevertheless underline that full justification in this case means providing and duly evaluating reliable sources and information that lead to the conclusion that Türkiye provides effective protection to refugees and respects fundamental human rights. However, all available relevant sources and information, which were also contained in the annulled Joint Ministerial Decision, lead to the exact opposite conclusion, confirmed by the dramatic deterioration of the situation of fundamental rights in that country.

Furthermore, the Council of State unanimously upheld applications for annulment in individual cases, that is to say, cases of asylum seekers whose application for asylum had been rejected as inadmissible because Türkiye had been considered a safe third country for their case. The Council of State, referring to the ad hoc judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in case C-134/23 brought by our organisations, reiterated the judgment of the CJEU and underlined that “[… ] as long as it is clear from the evidence in the file that Türkiye has generally suspended the readmission of applicants for international protection to its territory as of March 2020, the competent Greek authorities […] may not reject applications for international protection as inadmissible […] on the ground that Türkiye is a safe third country“.

Taking into account that this situation prevails to date, the relevant reference in a press release of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum to the effect that the adoption of the new Joint Ministerial Decision “[…] will allow the immediate rejection of asylum applications of those persons who have illegally entered Greece from Turkey, and their return […]. ]”, is blatantly inaccurate insofar as no one has returned to Türkiye at least under the entry into force of similar previous decisions. It also amounts to an explicitly provocative statement of non-compliance on the part of the Administration with the relevant decisions of the Council of State and the CJEU.

The rejection of applications as inadmissible under the application of the safe third country concept in the above circumstances exposes a significant number of persons who are clearly in need of international protection (prima facie refugees), including families with children and particularly vulnerable persons, to a prolonged situation of legal uncertainty, without protection and access to basic reception conditions. These persons in any case cannot be removed from our country.

It is not acceptable for the administration of a law-abiding state to blatantly ignore the courts and to lead people into danger and despair for the sake of short-lived political sensationalism with the sole apparent aim of appealing to extreme, xenophobic audiences.

In addition to applying for judicial review of the new Joint Ministerial Decision, our organisations will exhaust legal avenues – including the law on the administration’s obligation to comply with court decisions – to legally claim and impose sanctions.

The organisations:

Greek Council for Refugees (GCR)

Refugee Support Aegean (RSA)