In the current climate of sharp diplomatic tensions between France and Turkey, the affair scandalizes part of the political class.
Mehmet Yalcin, a Kurdish activist who has taken refuge in France since 2006 and under an obligation to leave the territory, was taken back to the border in the middle of the week, the Interior Ministry told the Parisian.
Tuesday, he was arrested near Bordeaux (Gironde), where he lives with his wife and his three children, then transferred to the detention center of Mesnil-Amelot (Seine-et-Marne).
"It is an act of extreme cowardice and criminal", thunders Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA).
As of Wednesday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had rebelled on Twitter: “Macron has just delivered Mehmet Yalçin, a Kurdish opponent to the Erdogan police.
Despite our alerts and protests.
"
Macron has just delivered Mehmet Yalçin, a Kurdish opponent to Erdogan's police.
Despite our alerts and protests.
Shame on the murderous double talk.
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) September 16, 2020
Mehmet Yalcin's lawyer, Gabriel Lassort, indicates for his part to have "no more news" from his client since Wednesday morning, while refusing to develop "elements that could harm his safety and health".
A hearing scheduled this Thursday morning before the freedom judge would have been canceled, according to the lawyer.
Sentenced in 2019
Mehmet Yalcin, 40, had filed several asylum requests since arriving in France fourteen years ago.
"All have been refused by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra)" and "these refusals have each time been confirmed by the National Court of Asylum Rights (CNDA)", indicates the Ministry of Interior.
In 2019, he was also sentenced to two years in prison, one of which was suspended by the Paris Court of Appeal for “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a terrorist act”.
He was criticized for his links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered by the European Union and therefore by France as a terrorist organization.
What many elected leftists have long contested.
“Everyone is breathless by this expulsion, especially since the Kurds were our allies against Daesh in the Middle East,” thunders the rebellious France deputy Eric Coquerel.
The Kurdish activist served his sentence under an electronic bracelet before being placed in administrative detention last July.
At the same time, he filed a new asylum application.
"He was released by the administrative court of Bordeaux on August 13 and he was in good standing while waiting for the CNDA to look into his administrative situation," said Gabriel Lassort.
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The Ministry of the Interior justifies the activist's expulsion by the fact that Mehmet Yalcin "is subject to an obligation to leave the territory with a three-year ban on return issued by the Gironde prefecture and confirmed by the administrative court of Bordeaux ”.
The prefecture also told Rue89 that, "given all the procedures, a new request for re-examination [for asylum] does not have a suspensive nature".
Mélenchon: "Double assassin language"
Not enough to convince many elected leftists, including the leader of the rebels, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.
"The extradition of Kurdish refugee Mehmet Yalcin is a disgrace in view of arbitrary justice and threats to his integrity in Turkey", exclaimed the latter on Twitter.
The extradition of Kurdish refugee Mehmet Yalcin is a disgrace in view of arbitrary justice and the threats to his integrity in Turkey.
What is the real reason for this gesture?
Is this how the Gvt intends to calm Franco-Turkish tensions ?!
- Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) September 17, 2020
Mehmet Yalcin's supporters now demand from Emmanuel Macron and the government a "political gesture", all the more so in this period of diplomatic tension between France and Turkey.
A few days ago, Emmanuel Macron qualified as “inadmissible” the behavior of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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"We do not deliver an activist of the Kurdish cause in a country in which we know that they are risking their lives, and we cannot have a speech criticizing Erdogan while giving him his opponents", protests Eric Coquerel.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounced, for his part, a “murderous double talk”.