2012 ORDINARY SESSION

________________________

(Fourth part)

REPORT

Thirtieth Sitting

Tuesday 2 October 2012 at 10 a.m.

ADDENDUM 1

Communication from the Committee of Ministers

Parliamentary Questions for Oral Answer

This document contains written replies to oral questions not answered by the Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers during the debate.

Ms HÄGG (Sweden) – The Turkish Government has received harsh criticism from human rights organisations and from female organisations, as the Geneva Convention is not being followed. Human rights organisations, bodies that promote equality and Turkish parliamentarians have been denied access to the camp that I saw, which was more like a military camp. It is impossible to determine what this camp is. Is it a refugee camp, a military or training camp or another sort of camp? The UN has been criticised for taking into account political considerations, and it has no access to the camp. Does the Minister think that the Council of Europe can press Turkey to open up and allow more access to the Syrian refugee camps?

Mr PANARITI – Together with other countries in the region, Turkey is providing enormous assistance to Syrians who fled their country. Currently 11 refugee camps are in operation in Turkey, three more are about to open and two more are under construction. That will bring the total number of shelters to 16. The setting-up, support and management of these shelters, as well as their safety regulations and conditions of access are subject to the provisions of the relevant Turkish legislation.

According to figures reported by the UNHCR, to date, more than 93 000 Syrian refugees are being sheltered in camps established in Turkey and several thousand more are known to be residing outside these camps.

The international community can only praise Turkey’s willingness to grant shelter to those in need. The efforts deployed by the Turkish authorities have been widely acknowledged, including by the Committee of Ministers in its declaration of 9 May 2012 on the situation in Syria.