A., a Turkish national of Kurdish ethnicity and Alevi faith, applied for international protection in Switzerland on 24 April 2023 as a minor accompanied by his family. He claimed that he attended secondary school in Türkiye, where he had been forced to take courses on Islam, and when he refused to participate in activities related to these courses, he had been insulted and beaten by his Sunni classmates leading his father to transfer him to a private school. His studies were interrupted by the February 2023 earthquake, which damaged his family home, and led him and his family to leave Türkiye in April 2023, travelling by air to Serbia before reaching Switzerland by car.  After his parents and brothers left Switzerland on 26 September 2024, his case proceeded independently. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) denied refugee status on 10 April 2025 and ordered his removal. The applicant appealed to the Federal Administrative Court on 15 May 2025, arguing that he was the subject of targeted and continuous persecution in the form of verbal violence whilst at school, and that his family have also been subjected to politically motivated violence, leading to the murder of his grandfather and to the intimidation of his father for several years.  

The Federal Administrative Court assessed the applicant’s claims of persecution on religious and ethnic grounds, finding that the past episodes of racism and harassment cited by the applicant were not sufficiently intense to reach the threshold of Article 3 of the Asylum Act. Citing recent case-law (E-5459/2023 of 26 February 2024, E-4192/2025 of 9 July 2025), the court reiterated that Türkiye does not practice collective persecution of Kurds or Alevis and that Turkish authorities are presumed able and willing to protect their citizens (E-2797/2024 of 2 December 2024). 

On the enforceability of the removal, the court held that Türkiye does not exhibit generalized violence and that the applicant’s family—who voluntarily returned to Turkey—constituted a sufficient support network. It also considered that his family were in a good economic position and owned several properties according to the father’s statements. In accordance with its recent jurisprudence, it noted that an individual case by case examination was necessary before enforcing return in relation to the consequences of the earthquake. The court considered that people are free to move to another region of the country as the principle of freedom of establishment is respected by Türkiye. The court also highlighted the applicant’s youth, lack of family responsibilities and possibility to resume his studies upon return. The court also noted that the applicant had claimed to suffer from “probable polycythemia vera” as identified in medical reports from 2023. However, the lack of recent, updated evidence on the medical condition and the fact that the applicant himself had not advanced health-related impediments to his removal, led the court to conclude that the condition could not preclude the applicant’s removal. The court considered the removal lawful, possible, and reasonable under Art. 83 of the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration.  

In conclusion, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the applicant’s removal to Türkiye. It held that generalised societal tensions against Kurds and Alevis in Türkiye, in the absence of targeted acts of sufficient intensity, did not reach the threshold to be considered persecution relevant for obtaining asylum.