RY v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, RY, is a Kurdish citizen of Türkiye who applied for leave to remain on 5 March 2024 on protection and human rights grounds. He claimed to be a supporter of the HDP who had been accused by the Turkish authorities of involvement with the PKK, and said he had been detained and mistreated; he further said he feared supporters of the Hudapar Party because he is an atheist, a matter raised in his asylum interview but not addressed in the reasons for refusal letter. The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused the application by a decision dated 6 January 2025, accepting that the appellant is Kurdish and an HDP supporter but not that he had been associated with the PKK, and relying on his failure to claim asylum in France as damaging his credibility. Sufficiency of protection and internal relocation were conceded in the reasons for refusal letter. The appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), representing himself with a Turkish interpreter at a hybrid hearing at Columbus House on 3 September 2026. The respondent consented to the Tribunal dealing with the Hudapar claim as a new matter, and the presenting officer conceded that if the claimed PKK association were accepted there would be a risk of persecution on return.