The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg sent an official request to Albania to not deport the Turkish citizen Selami Simsek to Turkey, without the finalization of his trial. News 24 Tv reported that the security measure was sent to the Albanian authorities and Simsek’s legal representative last Friday. Selami Simsek and Harun Celik, two Turkish citizens were arrested in 2019 in Albania, while trying to travel to Canada with fake passports. Upon release from prison in March 2020, Simsek applied for asylum in Albania, with the motivation of being a member of the Gulen movement, fearing that returning in Turkey would put his life in danger. His request was refused by the Albanian institutions, which claimed that the Turkish state did not pose a serious threat to him or his family.
Simsek’s next step was that of suing the Ministry of Interior for the refusal of his asylum request. His tentative to reverse the decision of the Ministry, was also rejected by the Administrative Court. The last step taken by Simsek has been that of appealing the case. If Simsek won’t win the appeal, he will have to be extradited to Turkey.
Both Simsek’s case and Celik’s case have raised concerns among the opposition, the civil society and international organizations, that Albania is not respecting its obligations towards the human rights conventions, due to its close ties with Turkey. Celik’s extradition in Turkey was objected by the EU, the United Nations and the Council of Europe. On that occasion, EU Delegation in Albania stated for the Albanian media that “we expect Albania to uphold principles of judicial process and its international obligations, notably under the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.” Celik’s episode put also a lot of pressure against Albania to not act in the same way with Simsek.
