Activist Deportation to Turkey Warned: Ramelow Speaks Out Against Deception - Activists Remain Unmoved: Ramelow Highlights Deception – No Forced Repatriation to Turkey
Mehmet Çakas, a Kurdish activist from Lower Saxony, Germany, is scheduled for deportation to Turkey on August 28, 2025, despite ongoing legal proceedings and parallel criminal cases in Turkey.
In April 2024, the Higher Regional Court of Celle convicted Çakas for "membership in a foreign terrorist organization" related to the PKK and sentenced him to two years and ten months in prison. He was expected to complete his sentence in October 2025. However, the prison administration recently communicated the deportation decision to him, marking a legal novelty as no one previously convicted in Germany for PKK membership has been deported to Turkey.
Legal challenges have been mounted in response to the deportation order. Çakas had filed an asylum application in Germany, which was rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. He challenged this rejection, including through an emergency application, but the Administrative Court of Lüneburg surprisingly rejected his lawsuit six weeks ago without addressing the substantive protection arguments he presented.
Indications suggest that ongoing court rulings have not halted the deportation order. The involvement of the Federal Constitutional Court has not been explicitly detailed, but it is implied that legal efforts, possibly including appeals or constitutional complaints, are part of the ongoing attempts to contest the deportation.
Left-wing Bundestag MP Bodo Ramelow has urged Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies to halt the impending deportation of Çakas. Ramelow believes that Çakas would face political persecution, unfair trial, and torture if deported to Turkey. A petition against Çakas' deportation has been started, with around 800 signatures so far, calling for the procedure to be suspended and for a fair asylum procedure in Germany.
The Workers' Party PKK is a banned political organization in Germany. Çakas was convicted of supporting the party, which has been banned since 1993. The General Prosecutor's Office's decision to suspend the enforcement of Çakas' sentence is being viewed by supporters as a means to facilitate a quick deportation.
The Interior Ministry has stated that the authorities are acting on legal requirements and are in contact with the courts involved. They found no ban on Çakas' deportation. The Ministry is responsible for the assessment of the case, and the state government of Lower Saxony has confirmed the receipt of Ramelow's letter. The deportation date for Çakas has not been provided by the Ministry.
The peace process in Turkey is also a factor being considered in the case of Çakas' deportation. The Kurdish organization Civaka Azad claims that Çakas' deportation is planned for August 28, before a court hearing in Lüneburg. The case is currently under review by the courts in Lower Saxony and at the Federal Constitutional Court in Berlin.
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- Despite the ongoing legal challenges and politics surrounding Mehmet Çakas' case, EC countries' policies and legislation appear to not prevent his planned deportation to Turkey on August 28, 2025, despite his conviction on charges related to the PKK and the general news of physical risks associated with such deportation.
- As Mehmet Çakas' scheduled deportation to Turkey approaches, the freedom to provide services within EC countries, such as Bodo Ramelow's efforts as a Bundestag MP to halt the deportation, and the freedom of general-news dissemination concerning his situation, remain paramount in the current political landscape.
