The Movement for Equality, Support, Anti-Racism issued an announcement stating that the Government is trying to shift its responsibilities to the victims of the fire at the Pournara Center.
Same announcement
< p>According to testimonies from people who live in the Pournara Center, on Friday, October 28, 2022, at around 10:00 am, two asylum seekers staying in two adjacent tents fought over the ownership of a phone charger. The Center's security staff did not intervene even when the confrontation developed into a conflict between them. At some point, one of the people involved kicked the fire pit that was used to prepare food, causing the tent to catch fire. It should be noted that at the Center food is prepared on fire pits for personal consumption but also for sale in and out of the scenes on a daily basis. Reacting angrily, the other person threw burning wood into the tent occupied by the one who caused the fire, and the second tent also caught fire. Until she at the time there was no intervention by the staff, private security guards and police officers who are responsible for the management of the Center and the security of the applicants residing in Pournara.
In very short famous broke out under unknown circumstances and a second center of fire in the Center and it is there that the staff ran with small fire extinguishers to put out the fires. Unfortunately, it was already too late as the fire spread rapidly and the terrified people began to run unorganized in chaos and panic to protect themselves resulting in several injuring themselves.
According to our information, there were no conflicts between the various ethnic groups residing in the Center, as is wrongly reported and reproduced in the media, but it is a dispute between two persons. The police used tear gas to disperse the people who were running en masse and uncontrollably to escape the fire, as a result of which the access of the fire engine to the already inaccessible and unsuitable structure in terms of fire safety of Pournara was obstructed. No plan to evacuate it was implemented and it is completely coincidental that this time too we mourned no casualties. We note that the Pournara Center still houses unaccompanied minors and families with children as well as other vulnerable groups.
We point out that we were not able to visit the Center and clarify the facts fully and in detail since KISA is the only NGO in which the Ministry of Interior prohibits the entry into reception and detention centers for asylum seekers and immigrants.
In view of the above, KISA
1.   ; Condemns the distortion of facts and the misinformation of society by a section of the media
2. Condemns the targeting of asylum seekers residing in Pournara by public figures and especially by representatives of the ruling party which bears full responsibility for the situation in Pournara.
3.   ; We invite the competent Minister and the government to inform society regarding the following:
Is it true or not that the non-timely intervention of the authorities (when the dispute between the two applicants started) contributed to the uncontrolled spread of the fire?
  Is it true or not that the Center was not designed to meet the necessary fire safety conditions and that in the above events there was no plan to evacuate the Center or was activated?
Valid or not that the authorities know and turn a blind eye to the daily transport of wood for the purpose of preparing and selling food in inappropriate conditions as a necessary measure to deal with insufficient quality and quantity of food offered by the Center?
Is it true or not that the authorities allowed their partner to operate without tenders a private mini-market outside the Center and some mini-markets inside the Center for the sale of all kinds of goods, without any control over the prices and the quality of the products?
Is it true or not that the authorities knowingly did not do what they had to do to effectively protect the residents from drug and alcohol trafficking rings as well as the exploitation of women and children inside the Center?
Is it valid or not, and if so, for what reasons does the Ministry of the Interior prohibit, in violation of the law, the entry of KISA members and representatives to Pournara and other Reception Centers for asylum seekers and immigrants?
KISA has repeat highlight that the living conditions of the asylum seekers as they have evolved in Pournara, cannot be improved in any way, nor will the adoption of further punitive and/or police measures change the prevailing situation in any way. Only the return of the Center to its original form as a real place of reception and stay asylum seekers for a maximum period of 72 hours for the necessary formalities and then providing accommodation in open structures in the communities could be the solution to receive asylum seekers in humane and decent conditions that would ensure basic human rights, in accordance with the obligations of state, until the consideration of their applications.
