Gambian migrants recently released from detention in Türkiye have described what they say were appalling conditions, prolonged confinement, psychological distress and a lack of meaningful diplomatic support from their own government.
Speaking to JollofNews, several survivors said they spent months in detention centres with limited access to communication, legal assistance and medical care. They are now calling on the Gambian government to intervene with Turkish authorities, pointing to Senegal as an example of a country whose diplomatic representatives, they say, have done more to protect their nationals.
For Amie Secka, the ordeal began shortly after her arrival in Türkiye. She said her husband, who lives in Germany, had secured a valid Turkish visa for her. However, she alleged that an agent met her at the airport, took her passport and attempted to take her towards the coast.
“The agent met me at the airport and told me, ‘The sea is right here, it’s only a three-hour journey and the boat is safe, not like the ones in Gambia,’” Secka recalled.
She said she immediately objected, insisting that she had not agreed to travel by sea.
“I told him my husband never said I would be crossing the sea. I didn’t want to go,” she said.
Secka said she and other migrants were later intercepted by the Turkish Coast Guard and transferred to a deportation centre, where she spent eight months.
“If they catch you on the street or at sea, they ask no questions,” she said. “They just throw you in. Our government must speak to the Turkish authorities, just like Senegal did, before our youth die in those cells.”
Mustapha Touray, another survivor, expressed anger at what he described as the treatment of Gambian detainees by the country’s diplomatic mission in Türkiye.
Touray said the Gambian Ambassador visited the detention centre, but instead of offering assistance, he alleged that the migrants were blamed for their situation.
“The Ambassador stood in front of us and asked why we used the ‘back way’ to leave Gambia,” Touray told JollofNews.
Touray further alleged that the ambassador told Turkish guards to keep the migrants in prison for a year.
The allegations have not been independently verified by JollofNews. The Gambian Embassy in Ankara was not immediately available for comment at the time of publication.
Touray also made a serious allegation concerning food served to male detainees, claiming that chemicals were added to meals to affect male reproductive health.
“They put chemicals in the food to make men dysfunctional, because the prison houses both boys and girls,” he alleged.
For Fatou Cessay, who said she lived in Türkiye for four years and was imprisoned twice, the fear of detention remains a constant part of life. She alleged that police raids on residential compounds were used to detain Black migrants, including people who believed they had legal status.
“The hardship I faced in Türkiye, I have never experienced anywhere else,” Cessay said through tears. “But I will never give up. It is either I die, or I make it to Greece.”
Another Gambian migrant in Istanbul, Momodou Bah, claimed that the harsh conditions in detention centres had pushed some women to take desperate measures to avoid prolonged detention.
“The conditions are so terrible that many of our girls are intentionally getting pregnant,” Bah told JollofNews.
He claimed that some women believed pregnancy would reduce the likelihood of prolonged detention and give them a temporary opportunity to seek safety.
