Natives of Caucasus claim increased discrimination when visiting Turkey

Discrimination when entering Turkey or crossing the border has increased recently, natives of Northern Caucasus and Azerbaijan have complained. In their opinion, the problems may have to do with the growth of anti-migrant sentiment in Turkey, the intensified of Turkish-Russian special service ties, as well with the increased corruption in border agencies.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that this February, more than 30 families of political emigrants from the republics of Northern Caucasus were detained in Turkey.

Members of the Diaspora stated that Turkish border guards detain natives of Northern Caucasus, who have arrived in the country, conduct personal searches, study the contents of their phones, photo albums, contacts and correspondence, which contradicts the norms of the Turkish and international law.

"On July 31, I landed with my three children in Istanbul, where my family and I have been living for several years. We have a residence permit; my children study in Turkish schools; and we speak Turkish fluently. In the passport control area, they started detaining entire families of those who arrived with us, including me and my children," said Madina, who flew from Vladikavkaz.

She has noted that all of those detained stood out as Muslims. "I wear a hijab myself; and families were detained with us, where men had beards and women wore hijabs. We had heard about such a practice before, but it had never been reported that such people were detained," the woman has explained, adding that policemen, under the pretext of drug control, demanded to unlock her mobile phone and gained access to her personal correspondence and photos; they also asked questions in a rude manner.

Aslan Djukaev, a well-known Russian and Norwegian haematologist, an ethnic Chechen, has reported problems of crossing the Bulgarian-Turkish border. He is the father of the teenager Anzor, who, together with two Chechen boys, resisted the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik on the island of Utoya. However, Anzor was detained together with Breivik and treated as his accomplice, just because "the guy behaved cold-bloodedly and was not in tears." Anzor was subsequently released and an apology was made.

Mr Djukaev pointed out the absence of transparency in the procedure for crossing and declaring at the Turkish border, as well as the obvious corruption in border guards' actions. "They showed open disdain by abusing their official position, and openly humiliated us," he has stated.

An Azerbaijani, Djukaev's companion, said that he often crosses the Turkish border and often encounters extortions and his rights violations by border guards.