Turkey Logs Record 82,180 New COVID Cases

A patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
A patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
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Turkey Logs Record 82,180 New COVID Cases

A patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
A patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey has recorded 82,180 new COVID-19 cases in the space of 24 hours, its highest daily figure of the pandemic, health ministry data showed on Thursday, Reuters reported.

There were 174 deaths related to coronavirus in the same period, the data showed.

In late December, daily cases stood at about 20,000, before a surge in infections due to Omicron.

"Our health workers are at their posts. If it is time for your booster dose, do not yield to tolerable difficulties due to the weather conditions," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.



European Court Rules Against Greece over Migrant’s Illegal Deportation

FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
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European Court Rules Against Greece over Migrant’s Illegal Deportation

FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Türkiye by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Türkiye, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

The European Court of Human Rights, in a landmark ruling Tuesday, found that Greece had illegally deported a woman back to neighboring Türkiye and described the use of summary expulsions or “pushbacks” as systematic.
The decision at the court in Strasbourg, France could impact how Europe handles migrants at its borders, at a time when Greece and several European Union member states are seeking tougher immigration controls, The Associated Press reported.
A Turkish woman — identified only by her initials A.R.E. — was awarded damages of 20,000 euros ($21,000) after the court ruled that she had been improperly expelled in 2019 after crossing the Greek-Turkish border, having been presented no opportunity to make an asylum claim.
“The court considered that there were strong indications to suggest that there had existed, at the time of the events alleged, a systematic practice of ‘pushbacks’ of third-country nationals by the Greek authorities, from the Evros region (on the Greek border) to Türkiye,” the decision said.
Citing a lack of evidence, the court rejected a second claim made by an Afghan man, who said he had been illegally returned to Türkiye from the Greek island of Samos in 2020 when he was 15.
Greek government representatives at the hearings had denied the allegations, challenging the authenticity of the evidence presented and arguing that Greece's border policies comply with international law.
The UN refugee agency has urged Greece to more thoroughly investigate multiple pushback allegations, while several major human rights groups have described the alleged irregular deportations as a systematic practice.
Greece’s National Transparency Authority, a publicly-funded corruption watchdog, said that it found no evidence to support the pushback allegations following a four-month investigation in 2022.
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court based in Strasbourg, France, that adjudicates human rights violations by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a body older than the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community.