Turkey deports over 16,000 individuals to Syria within month
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday, Turkish authorities deported 600 Syrian refugees, including women and children, through the Tel Abyad and Bab al-Hawa border crossings in northern Syria. The total number of deportees during September exceeded 16,000 individuals, including people of non-Syrian nationality.
On Monday, the Turkish authorities deported a Moroccan tourist claiming that he was Syrian. Prior to that, they had deported three Moroccans, an Algerian woman, and two Afghanis, as part of their campaign to deport Syrian refugees from their territory under the pretext of voluntary return.
An administrative source at Tel Abyad border crossing stated to North Press that the Turkish authorities handed over about 120 Syrian refugees to Turkish-backed factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA) via the Tel Abyad crossing, north of Raqqa.
The Turkish-backed factions transferred the deportees to shelters where they will be investigated.
As for HTS, which controls much of northwestern Syria, it received 800 Syrian refugees, including women and their children, according to administrative sources at the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
The sources indicated that the deportation process took place after the Turkish authorities collected all personal identification documents of the refugees. The authorities also took their biometric data to ensure that they would not return to Turkish territory.
The sources in the two border crossings said that the number of the Syrian deportees since the beginning of September exceeded 16,000.