Monitoring visit to Gaziantep immigration removal centre Gaziantep is a large city in southern Turkey, which is about 30 miles from the Syrian border. The immigration removal centre, which opened on 4 May 2016, was located high up on a hill with spectacular views of the surrounding area. It was next to an airport. It had been built with 75% EU funding and had a capacity of 750 people. The centre looked and felt very much like a modern prison, and held a varied population, including families with children and people suspected of links to terrorism. In accordance with Turkish law, the centre could detain people for six months in the first instance, which could be extended by a further six months. We met with the director on arrival for a useful initial briefing meeting. The director said that people could be removed within 15-20 days if they had travel documents, but stays could otherwise be prolonged. However, he said that in all circumstances detainees were released if matters had not been finalised within a year. He did not know of any support for detainees post-release and the NPM said they would raise this issue with the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM). The director said the centre was over-crowded. It held about 800 people, including 26 women. He listed nationalities and numbers of current detainees as follows: 554 Afghans, 139 Syrians, 47 Pakistanis, 28 Iraqis, 1-2 people from other countries, including Palestine, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. The wing for suspected terrorists held 159 people. There were also 12 families with 35 children on a separate unit (see below). The director said he had 128 staff, including 87 private security guards, four interpreters, two psychologists and a kindergarten teacher. Entry and exit to the facility grounds was managed by the police. The centre also had an agreement with the Turkish Red Crescent, who visited every month to check conditions for detainees. The detainees were interviewed on arrival and had a medical report completed. They had fingerprints and pictures taken. Adults went through an x-ray machine and were rub-down searched. We were told that women always searched women. Young children did not go through the machine but were searched manually. 11