Greek authorities are revoking the asylum and residence permits of dozens of Turkish nationals who fled to Greece after the failed 2016 coup in Turkey, citing national security and public order concerns, according to official documents and interviews with those affected.
In 2025, Greece moved to revoke the asylum status of 44 Turkish citizens on national security grounds, the highest annual number in recent years. By comparison, asylum was revoked for two Turkish nationals in 2024 and one in 2023, official records show.
Several of those targeted are alleged followers of the Gulen movement, founded by the late cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey designates the movement as a terrorist organisation, a label rejected by its supporters and criticised by human rights groups.
One Turkish national who received political asylum in Greece in 2019 said he was informed last year that his status would be revoked, without being given details of the accusations against him. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told Kathimerini he had lived in Greece for several years, renewed his residence permit multiple times and built a life with his family, including running a construction business and enrolling his children in Greek schools.
“I thought it would be a routine bureaucratic process,” he said, referring to the renewal of his permit. “When I learned that my asylum was being revoked, I didn’t even understand what that meant at first. When I did, it felt like the ground disappeared beneath my feet.”
According to his lawyers, Greek authorities classified him as a threat to national security, citing confidential documents dated between August and October 2025. Requests to access the content of those documents were rejected.
Official data seen by Kathimerini show that in at least three cases, including his, the Greek Asylum Service based revocation requests on secret assessments. All three individuals had previously been granted international protection because they were wanted by Turkish authorities for alleged links to the Gulen movement.
Greek security sources said the broader list of Turkish nationals facing revocation includes people with no known links to organised crime or extremism. Some, they said, had previously faced accusations such as document forgery.
The man said he fled Turkey days after the 2016 coup attempt, after learning that his passport had been cancelled and that he was wanted by police. Turkish authorities later opened a case against him, accusing him of terrorism due to his alleged involvement in the Gulen movement – a charge commonly brought against thousands of Turks after the coup.
After years of separation, his family joined him in Greece in 2018. He was later detained briefly for lacking valid travel documents before completing the asylum process and being granted protection. “For the first time in a long time, I felt safe,” he said. “Now, seven years later, I feel like I’m back at the beginning.”
His lawyers have appealed the revocation decision, but say they have not been informed why their client is considered a threat to public order. The case is due to be reviewed by a committee in early February.
Another case involves a former non-commissioned officer in Turkey’s gendarmerie, who was dismissed, jailed and later released after being convicted on charges related to alleged Gulenist activity. Turkish prosecutors cited his use of the ByLock messaging application as evidence – a practice that has been criticised by the European Court of Human Rights as arbitrary.
The former officer fled to Greece in 2020, was granted asylum and later studied Greek and worked in food retail. He said he is now being asked to prove that he does not pose a security threat, without being told the basis of the allegations.
“I am asked to defend myself against accusations I cannot see,” he said.
At the same time, Greece has sharply tightened its asylum policy toward Turkish applicants. Acceptance rates at first instance fell to 1.6% in 2025 from 12.2% in 2023, according to data reviewed by Kathimerini.
Marios Kaleas, head of the Greek Asylum Service, said the decline reflects closer cooperation with security authorities to prevent abuse of the asylum system. “The examination of applications has become stricter in order to avoid granting protection to individuals with a criminal profile,” he said.
Human rights advocates have warned that the use of classified evidence and the lack of transparency risk undermining due process for asylum seekers who were previously recognised as refugees under international law.