XVIII. Acknowledgements

This report was researched and written by Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch.  The report was also researched and edited by Simone Troller, Children's Rights Division researcher, and Emma Sinclair-Webb, researcher in Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division.  Michael Timmins, University of Michigan Law School fellow, provided additional legal research and editorial assistance.  The report was edited by Iain Levine, director of the Program Office.  Aisling Reidy, senior legal advisor, conducted the legal review. SarahLeah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa Division, Ben Ward, associate director of the Europe and Central Asia Division, and Gerry Simpson, researcher/advocate in the Refugee Program, provided comments, as did UNHCR and NGO representatives and legal service providers in Greece and Turkey.  Bakhit Boukarin Greece provided invaluable assistance as an interpreter and guide and Ariadni Spanaki in Greece and Saad Olabi in Turkey provided additional translation assistance. Additional editorial assistance was provided by Valerie Kirkpatrick of the Refugee Program.  Grace Choi of the Program Office provided production assistance.

UNHCR staff in Athens, Istanbul, and Ankara gave generously of their time, and were insightful and informative in their response to our questions.  Human Rights Watch is indebted to legal and social service providers in Greece and Turkey, particularly the staffs of the Ecumenical Refugee Center and Greek Council for Refugees and the leadership of the Mesopotamia Association in Athens and Helsinki Citizens Assembly in Istanbul.  We are particularly indebted to Police Chief Ali Türedi of Edirne, Turkey for his openness and generosity with the time he spent with us, and appreciate the willingness of other Turkish police officials to speak with us and give us access to detention facilities.  We also acknowledge the willingness to meet with us of Police Brigadier General Constantinos P. Kordatos and Lieutenant Konstantinos Gialelis of the Hellenic Coast Guard, as well as other police personnel in Greece and thank them for the limited access they gave to detention facilities in Greece.