France has a history of granting political asylum to Kurdish nationalists from Turkey who risk prison and torture back home. But recent deportations of Kurdish activists show a growing rift between the French state and its judiciary. One of these deportations has since been ruled illegal on appeal.
In March and April, France deported three Kurdish activists to Turkey – Firaz Korkmaz, 24, Mehmet Kopal, 37 and Serhat Gultekin, 28.
All were suspected of having close ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been in conflict with the Turkish state for 40 years. France, along with its Western allies, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation.
The Kurds are a stateless people spread across the Middle East, with about one third living in Turkey. Around 150,000 Kurds reside in France.
The Kurdish Democratic Council of France (CDKF), an umbrella group of 27 Kurdish associations, has condemned the deportations and warned that more cases are under investigation.
In late April, eight Kurdish men were arrested in Paris and southeast France, accused of extorting funds from the Kurdish community to support PKK activities, which is seen as financing terrorism.
French authorities also raided exiled Kurdish broadcasters Sterk TV and Medya Haber TV in Belgium at the request of the French judiciary.
The CDKF says this level of action is unprecedented. Prior to April, no Kurdish activists had been handed over to Turkey since 2019, when diplomatic relations between Paris and Ankara hit a low point.
The friction was partly due to France’s support for the Kurdish YPG, which was fighting the Islamic State in Syria, but is viewed by Turkey as an extension of the PKK.
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Not safe to return
Since April, French authorities have revoked refugee status from 50 Kurdish militants, according to the CDKF, and deported the three activists. The case of Serhat Gultekin has drawn particular concern.
A member of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party, Gultekin had been tortured and persecuted in Turkey before fleeing to France in 2017. He applied for political asylum and continued his activism in exile.
In April 2023, Gultekin and 10 others were found guilty of extortion and financing terrorism.
He was sentenced, but in a highly unusual move the anti-terrorist state prosecutor specifically warned of the dangers of sending him and the others back to Turkey “in view of the danger they had faced” and “the risks that an expulsion would expose them to”.
The court agreed, but French authorities took a different view. On 12 April, the day before the judge was set to rule on Gultekin’s asylum claim, the Interior Ministry issued a deportation order.
“Plainclothes police officers put him in a truck, handcuffed him, tied him up and took him to the airport,” Gultekin’s lawyer, David Andic, told RFI.
“In the truck, they told him: 'Serhat, we're going to send you to Turkey. Whether you like it or not’.”
When Gultekin landed, members of Turkey’s MIT secret services were waiting. He is now serving a six year and three month sentence in an Istanbul prison.
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Violation of human rights
On 26 September, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal declared Gultekin’s deportation "illegal", stating it violated article 3 of the European Charter of Human rights, which prohibits torture.
The CDKF is also fighting to prevent the deportation of Idris Kaplan, another activist sentenced in absentia to life in Turkey as an alleged PKK leader.
“Mr Kaplan faces at least 25 years in prison in Turkey, a country where Kurdish rights are systematically violated, and where political persecution, repression and torture are commonplace,” a CDKF statement said.
They criticised France for ignoring these facts and deporting Kaplan despite the risks, citing article 3 and the principle of non-refoulement from the Geneva Convention.
“You can't hand your allies over to their enemies in the name of security or diplomatic agreements. That's a basic moral principle,” argued CDKF spokesperson Agit Polat in Le Monde, pointing to Kaplan's role in fighting the Islamic State armed group alongside French special forces in Iraq.
On 8 October, a court in Cergy-Pontoise, northwest of Paris, suspended Kaplan’s expulsion order.
Kurdish activists as bargaining chips?
So why have French authorities taken a tougher stance on Kurdish activists? One theory is that economic interests are now outweighing human rights concerns.
Kostas Pikramenos, co-author of a book on Turkey’s MIT intelligence service, says Kurdish activists may be used as bargaining chips in intelligence negotiations.
The expulsion of the three Kurds is most likely part of a “seduction operation by France to sign commercial contracts” with Turkey, he told Marianne news magazine, pointing to a $40bn order of 200 Airbus aircraft by Turkish Airlines in late 2023.
The CDKF believes France may be paying Turkey for its intelligence cooperation.
In March, after a Moscow attack claimed by ISIS-K, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the group had attempted several attacks on French soil in recent months.
Ankara reportedly shared information on planned ISIS-K attacks during the upcoming 2024 Olympics, according to an anonymous French intelligence source cited by Marianne magazine.
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Contacted about the deportation cases, France’s Ministry of the Interior declined to comment, telling RFI it was classified information.
Meanwhile, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) emphasised that it "independently assesses" Interior Ministry requests to revoke refugee status. These decisions can be appealed in the National Asylum Court.
The CDKF has warned that five more Kurdish activists could face deportation in the coming months.
