»The truth may be bitter, but it must be told« conversation with an Afghan boy it became clear that he had relatives in other European countries. Under the European Dublin II Regulation, people have a reduced possibility to be taken up by the member state in which family members reside. There is currently no system in Greece for establishing if and why minors are alone in the country. Potential beneficiaries of family reunification under Dublin II can thus not be identified. Furthermore, victims of trafficking can not be recognised or protected as things currently stand. Since the beginning of 2007, however, Turkey is increasingly accepting the return of Iraqi refugees on the basis of the protocol. On the 1 August 2007 seventeen Greek human rights organisations called for an end to the return of Iraqi asylum seekers. According to reports by Panagiotis Papadimitriou from the Greek Council for Refugees, the police have information relating to three group returns of Iraqi asylum seekers – of about 40 people the first time – which took place in the first five months of 2007. »It is very likely that the real number is higher« believes Papadimitriou42. The readmission protocol between Turkey and Greece Human rights organisations believe that this rights violating practice shows that the highest priority of the police is to rid themselves of asylum seekers. »But because Greece can’t deport people to Iraq, the return of Iraqis to Turkey is the optimum solution« says Eleni Spathana (Group of Lawyers for the Protection of Refugees and Migrants Rights, Athens). »The expulsions and removals are a clear violation of the Geneva Convention and the European Convention of Human Rights«, says Spathana. In 2001 the Greek Foreign Minister and his Turkish counterpart signed a bilateral agreement on »combating crime, especially terrorism, organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and illegal migration«38. Article 8 details planned cooperation in combating irregular migration. A protocol to this article39 concerns the readmission agreement under which irregularly staying nationals and third country nationals can be returned. UNHCR, and the national committee for human rights criticise the agreement as it does not include provisions for the protection of refugees or for others in need of international protection. Through this agreement Greece hoped to seal off its eastern border, drastically reducing »illegal migration«. However, from a Greek perspective, up until the beginning of 2007, the implementation of the protocol has been far from satisfactory. According to the Ministry of Public Order, between April 2002 and November 2006 Greece presented Turkey with 1892 instances involving 23689 individuals. Turkish authorities only accepted responsibility for 2841 people, on the basis of the readmission agreement. Greece also complains that returns via the north eastern Greek Evros region are highly complicated and cost intensive; the six readmission checkpoints, agreed on in protocol, have as yet not been created40. Readmissions: Greece - Turkey 41 2004: 4,006 applications to Turkey, 119 (3 %) accepted. 2005: 1,992 applications to Turkey, 152 (7.6 %) accepted. 2006: 2,055 applications to Turkey, 73 (3.6 %) accepted. 26 Deportation orders, detention and detention conditions For the potential asylum seekers the readmission protocol has fatal consequences, particularly for Iraqi asylum seekers: after return to Turkey they are threatened with immediate removal to Iraq. UNHCR Greece confirms that 135 Iraqi asylum seekers on their way to Greece were detained in Turkey and subsequently returned to Iraq.43 The return of Iraqi asylum seekers takes place in the Evros region, in particular across the Kipoi border station. Iraqi asylum seekers are brought from the islands of Chios or Samos to Evros and expelled to Turkey. In conversations with Iraqi asylum seekers on Chios and Mitilini, we were told that during registration at the border they were scared of being identified as Iraqis. They claim to be Palestinian, to reduce the likelihood of return to Turkey.