More than ten Kurdish political asylum seekers have been detained in Turkey over the past year and are currently being held in various camps, at risk of being forcibly returned to Iran.
Zanyar Aziznezhad, a 37-year-old Kurdish asylum-seeker from Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, who has been detained in Turkey for around four months and is currently being held in a camp in Kocaeli in the north-west, is at risk of being deported to Iran, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Monday.
He was arrested by Turkish police near Istanbul on 4 July this year while attempting to cross into Europe from Turkey.
Aziznezhad, who was previously recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a political asylum seeker in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is now at risk of forcible return to Iran, according to KHRN.
Aziznezhad, a father of two, has been actively involved in the media department of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan since 2019.
According to statistics compiled by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, more than ten Kurdish political asylum seekers have been detained by the Turkish authorities over the past year and are currently being held in various camps in Turkey, at risk of being forcibly returned to Iran.
