The Greek Council of State annuls the designation of Türkiye as a 'safe third country'

On 21 March 2025, the Greek Council of State annulled the Joint Ministerial Decision designating Türkiye as a safe third country for asylum seekers originating from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Among others, the Council of State ruled that "from the case file accompanying the Joint Ministerial Decision 538595/12.12.2023 issued by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Migration and Asylum, titled ‘Designation of third countries as safe and compilation of a national list pursuant to Article 91 of Law 4939/2022, and particularly from the recommendation of the Director of the Asylum Service, it does not emerge that the criteria set out in Article 91 of Law 4939/2022 (Article 38 of Directive 2013/32/EU) were duly assessed for the designation of Türkiye as a safe third country for the aforementioned categories of foreign nationals”. The Court, also, unanimously ruled that the individual decisions of the Independent Appeals Committees, by which the applications for international protection by Afghan nationals were rejected, on the grounds that they entered Greece from Türkiye, which was considered a safe third country, must be annulled.

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