Judge THROWS OUT ruling against 'opportunistic' Kurdish asylum seeker because his leafleting in Turkey could put him at risk

Published 4 November 2026, 12:04

• In an Upper Tribunal ruling, Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge E. Daykin sent the man's case to a different judge.
• Home Office officials accepted that the man, known only as YE, was Kurdish and a Peoples' Democratic Party member.
• A First-tier Tribunal judge had found him not credible and branded his UK protests 'opportunistic'.

A Kurdish asylum seeker's case must be reheard after a tribunal ignored evidence that handing out leaflets and attending protests in Turkey can put ordinary party members at risk of persecution, Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge E. Daykin has ruled.

The appellant, known only as YE to protect his identity, is a Kurdish man from Turkey who claimed he faced persecution because of his political activities as a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and his Kurdish ethnicity.

The Home Office accepted that he was Kurdish and an HDP member but concluded that the Turkish authorities had not taken any adverse interest in him and that he would face no risk upon return.

YE said his HDP activities in Turkey included attending party meetings and conferences, helping organise and provide security at events including Newroz celebrations, and going door-to-door at coffee shops to recruit members and distribute posters, leaflets and newsletters.

He provided an HDP General Conference Delegate card dated 12 September 2021 and an official document from Turkey's Supreme Court Political Parties Registry Bureau confirming his active membership of the Istanbul Fatih Branch.

A First-tier Tribunal judge dismissed his appeal in February 2026, finding him not credible — noting inconsistencies in his account of his journey to the UK and his claimed detentions by Turkish authorities.

The judge also concluded that YE's participation in UK demonstrations and his membership of the Kurdish People's Democratic Assembly was "likely to be opportunistic and not reflective of any genuinely held belief," basing that on the earlier credibility findings.

Judge Daykin found that ruling was legally flawed.

The government's own Country Policy and Information Note on the HDP states that "the risk faced will depend on the person's profile and activities" and that "the starting point should be the person's claimed involvement with the HDP and their activities."

The CPIN also notes that ordinary members have generally come to the attention of authorities while participating in demonstrations and rallies or speaking out on Kurdish political issues.

Judge Daykin identified "a significant gap in reasoning" in the First-tier Tribunal decision: though the judge accepted YE was an HDP member, he never addressed what YE's specific activities as an "ordinary member" actually were.

"They simply were not addressed at all, either as part of the summary of the Appellant's claim or in the assessment of his credibility," Judge Daykin found.

The judge rejected the Home Office's argument, advanced by Senior Presenting Officer Ms L. Clewley, that the activities were implicitly dismissed because YE had not proved he came to the authorities' attention.

"They are two different issues and amount to two different risk factors," Judge Daykin said.

"There is a whole spectrum of potentially relevant factors between simple official membership of a party with no more and being a senior or high-profile party member."

That gap also undermined the finding on YE's UK protest activities, with Judge Daykin concluding that properly identifying his profile and considering objective evidence "may well have produced a different outcome."

Grounds 2 and 3 of the appeal were rejected.

Judge Daykin found the First-tier Tribunal gave sufficient reasons for attaching little weight to documents relating to YE's brother and cousin, and that the substantial changes YE made to his travel history between his screening interview and later stages of the claim were ones the judge was entitled to weigh against him.

Judge Daykin allowed the appeal, set aside the First-tier Tribunal's decision and ordered YE's protection claim to be reheard by a different First-tier Tribunal judge.