‘In the Commission’s view, to the extent inadmissible applicants are not being permitted to enter Türkiye, Article 38(4) of the directive should also be applied in relation to these applications and access given to the asylum procedure on the basis of their merits’760. ‘The condition for the application of Article 38(4) of the Asylum Procedures Directive is that ‘the third country does not permit the applicant to enter its territory’. If that condition is met, Member States shall ensure that access to a procedure on substance is given, and therefore shall not reject the subsequent application as inadmissible on the basis of the safe third country concept.’761 ‘Different factual or legal situations may result in an applicant not being permitted to enter the territory of a country designated as a safe third country in accordance with Article 38 of the Asylum Procedures Directive. Such situations include the suspension by either party of a bilateral readmission agreement, or the failure by the third country to respond within the relevant deadlines to readmission requests made by the Member State. To the extent the applicant is not permitted to enter the territory of the safe third country, in particular if the underlying situation preventing entry persists since 2018 or 2020, the Member State shall ensure, in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Directive, that access to a procedure is given to the applicant’.762 Following the 2022 Türkiye Report of the European Commission,763 civil society organisations co-signed a letter addressed to the Director of the Asylum Service on the very same day, copied to the Ministers of Migration and Asylum, Foreign Affairs, as well as to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Executive Director of the Appeals Authority and the Deputy Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission. In the letter, the organizations urged the Director of the Asylum Services and the Ministries of Migration and Asylum and of Foreign Affairs to: ‘1. Immediately repeal the national list of safe third countries set out by JMD 42799/2021, as amended by JMD 458568/2021. 2. Publish previous and upcoming opinions of the Director of the Asylum Service regarding the designation of safe third countries, which should be made available to asylum seekers subject to the application of the list according to the European Commission. 3. Stop dismissing asylum applications as inadmissible based on the “safe third country” concept. ‘764 It should also be noted that, already in 2021, ‘the Commission has requested the Greek authorities to apply Article 38(4) of the Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU), to the extent the conditions are met, to applicants whose applications have been deemed inadmissible on the basis of the Safe Third Country Concept under the Joint Ministerial Decision of 7 June 2021, in order to avoid the legal limbo you refer to. The Commission will continue to monitor the situation on the ground’.765 Moreover, the Greek Ombudsman highlighted that:766 ‘if readmission to that country is not possible, the application must be examined by the Greek authorities on the merits. Otherwise, this creates a perpetual cycle of admissibility assessments of applications for international protection, without ever examining their merits and without readmission to seek protection in the safe third country being possible. As a result, the fulfilment 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 European Commission, Reply to parliamentary question E-004131/2021(ASW), 21 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/45w7rFb. European Commission, Reply to parliamentary question E-005103/2021(ASW), 25 January 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3Q3NugU. European Commission, Reply to parliamentary question E-001347/2022(ASW), 22 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/46OaKqG. European Commission, Turkiye Report 2022, 12 October 2022, available at - https://bit.ly/3Qc7xLV. Letter to the Director of the Asylum Service by co-signing civil society organisations, European Commission dispels Greece’s designation of Türkiye as a ‘safe third country’ for refugees – Repeal the national list of safe third countries, Ref. no: β/72/27.10.2022, 27 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/40Lhq5J. European Commission, Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, Ref.Ares(2021)7836311, 17 December 2021, no longer available online. RSA, Greece arbitrarily deems Türkiye a ‘safe third country’ in flagrant violation of rights, February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3iIFsen, p. 5; Ombudsman, Letters 301551/41050/2021 and 301755/41017/2021, 22 July 2021. 159