Switzerland is seeking to deport Dilan and Nihat Özgün and their five children after rejecting their asylum applications, the Bianet news website reported.
The couple say they fled Turkey because of politically motivated prosecution related to their involvement with Turkey’s Kurdish political movement.
Dilan and Nihat Özgün have lived in Switzerland for more than four years and are currently staying with their children at the Oberhalden Finkenried deportation center in the canton of Zurich, according to Bianet.
Their asylum applications and appeals were rejected, according to the Swiss WOZ weekly.
Swiss police attempted to deport the family on August 17 in an operation involving some 20 officers, WOZ reported. Dilan Özgün and her eldest son were handcuffed, while other residents of the center gathered around police vehicles to prevent their removal.
Zurich cantonal police confirmed that the operation was temporarily called off due to resistance at the center, citing safety and proportionality concerns.
The family’s supporters have since launched a petition calling on Zurich officials to reconsider the case on humanitarian grounds, taking into account the children’s education, social ties and integration into Swiss society.
The children have attended school in Switzerland for about three years and have established friendships and a social life there. Four of the five are minors.
“My children have a life here. They are happy with their friends and their community,” Dilan Özgün told Bianet. “They no longer have a school life in Turkey. That is why I am fighting to remain here for my children.”
Özgün said the attempted deportation had left the children deeply distressed.
“As a mother, I want to be able to sleep without fear,” she said. “I don’t want to keep checking on my children at night even though they are beside me.”
Earlier deportee jailed in Turkey
Concerns about the family’s return have grown following the case of Bahar Yalçınkaya, who was deported from the same center with her two children in early August despite warnings from her lawyer that she faced imprisonment in Turkey.
Police detained Yalçınkaya upon her arrival, and a court ordered her arrest the following day on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda based on her social media activity. She was sent to Bakırköy Women’s Prison with her 15-month-old baby, while her 5-year-old child was separated from her.
Her case prompted questions about Switzerland’s compliance with the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to countries where they face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious rights violations.
Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration says asylum applications are assessed individually and that the detention of a person after deportation does not by itself show that the person was subjected to politically motivated persecution. The agency has declined to discuss individual cases, citing privacy rules.
Turkish authorities frequently prosecute expressions of support for Kurdish political causes as propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) under the country’s counterterrorism legislation.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, began an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984.
Human Rights Watch says thousands of people have been detained or prosecuted on alleged PKK links under Turkey’s broadly applied counterterrorism laws.
The prosecutions have continued despite a peace initiative launched in late 2024. Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan called on the group in February 2025 to lay down arms and dissolve. The PKK accepted the call in May and later withdrew its fighters from Turkey.
Parliament in August adopted a law allowing the conditional suspension of some investigations, trials and sentences for PKK-related offenses. Its implementation depends on the government formally determining that the group and its affiliates have ended their activities and surrendered their weapons.
Rights advocates say ending the armed conflict should be accompanied by reforms addressing the prosecution of peaceful Kurdish political activity.
The petition calls on Zurich officials to halt the family’s deportation and allow them to remain in Switzerland on humanitarian grounds.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
