XIV. Seeking Access to Asylum in Greece For those asylum seekers who manage to enter Greek territory and not to be summarily removed, gaining access to the asylum system becomes an additional challenge. In fact, only 6 percent of asylum seekers in 2007 lodged their claims anywhere other than the Attica Police Asylum Department police center in Petrou Ralli, Athens.215 Detention conditions themselves, an environment of intimidation, a lack of interpreters, and the location of migrant detention centers in areas where there are few lawyers or nongovernmental organizations are among the factors that conspire against access to asylum for detainees in Greece. A report from a delegation of the European Parliament that visited Greece in June 2007 said, “Our impression is that a deliberate policy is adhered to try to encourage people not to claim asylum.”216 It appears that migrants on the Greek islands and in the Evros region are discouraged from seeking asylum in various ways. The most common is the suggestion by guards and the common perception among other detainees and migrants that people who apply for asylum are detained longer than those who don’t. The Iraqi Kurd from Kirkuk who gave the account about being suspected of being a smuggler and being beaten for 10 minutes before being summarily returned across the Evros River also spoke about how he was dissuaded from seeking asylum in Greece after finally succeeding in entering and remaining in Greece in his fifth attempt to cross from Turkey:217 I had no asylum interview when I was arrested, detained, or released. I told them I was an Iraqi. I gave them my real name. They only asked me if I wanted to stay in detention or leave. They told me that if I asked for asylum and a red card that I would need to spend more time in jail beyond 25 days, but if I didn’t want asylum and a red card I could leave detention after 25 days. I also had good information from my friends who told me the same thing. So, I refused the red card and after 25 days they 215 Unaccompanied Minors Asylum Seekers in Greece, a study on the treatment of unaccompanied minors applying for asylum in Greece commissioned by UNHCR’s Office in Greece, April 2008, p. 38. 216 Report from the LIBE Committee Delegation Visit to Greece, July 2, 2007, p. 6. 217 See his related testimony, above, in Summary Expulsions from the Evros Region. Stuck in a Revolving Door 86