Finland advises Turks on how to recognise potential asylum seekers

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The Finnish Border Guard is worried about a recent increase in asylum seekers arriving in Finland on flights from Turkey.
      The number has doubled from last year, and in October alone, between 30 and 40 Chechens came to Finland on flights from Turkey. Consequently, the Border Guard decided to go to Turkey, hoping to stem the flow.
     
Two Finnish experts have been dispatched to Istanbul to advise employees of Turkish Airlines how to identify and stop those travelling to Finland to seek asylum.
      “Suspicions are aroused by a person who has a ticket via Finland to some other destination, who asks that his or her luggage should be checked only to Finland”, says Pasi Tolvanen, the head of the border inspection unit of the Finnish Border Guard.
      Tolvanen emphasises that the Finnish Border Guard does not have the authority to stop anyone in Istanbul, as the decision is made by Turkish Airlines.
     
At the Refugee Advice Centre in Finland, lawyer Marjaana Laine is surprised. “I had not heard that, but it is not the job of an airline to decide who gets to apply for international protection”, she says.
      According to Laine, it is the job of Finnish immigration authorities to deal with those who have arrived in Finland with inadequate travel documents.
     
The Border Guard disagrees. “Our task is to prevent illegal entry. We do not investigate it or punish it, if an asylum seeker is involved”, Tolvanen says.
     
Tolvanen has learned from Turkey that a few people have been stopped at that end.
      Laine feels that not allowing potential asylum seekers to board a flight increases crime and smuggling, as people seeking protection resort to illegal means.
     
About 400 asylum seekers holding Russian passports have come to Finland this year. About half of them are Chechens, of whom most have travelled via Istanbul.
      The Istanbul route means that a Chechen who has fled to Turkey will buy a ticket to St. Petersburg via Helsinki. As transit passengers they are allowed to go through Helsinki without visas, and once in Finland they can apply for asylum.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Surge of asylum seekers portends new record year (12.1.2009)
  Age testing of asylum seekers to be included in law (13.11.2009)
  Government prepares changes to asylum policy (3.6.2009)
  Processing times of asylum applications drawn out (27.5.2009)

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