Human Rights Watch accuses Turkey of forcing Syrians to return to their country
North-Press Agency
Human Rights Watch said that the Turkish authorities are conducting illegal operations against Syrian refugees in Turkey, forcing them to return to their country.
The organization accused the Turkish authorities of “obliging the Syrians to sign forms that falsely express their desire to return to Syria voluntarily, and then, forcibly returned them there.”
Gerry Simpson, Human Rights Watch organization official, said, “Turkey claims it helps Syrians voluntarily return to their country, but threatening to lock them up until they agree to return”.
Human Rights Watch said that “Dumping them in a war zone is neither voluntary nor legal,” and puts them at risk. “As the forcible returns from Turkey indicate that the government is ready to double down on other policies that deny many Syrian asylum seekers of protection.”
Moreover, Human Rights mentioned in its report the situation of a Syrian refugee from Ghouta, in Damascus countryside, saying that ” He was detained by Turkish Police on July 17 in Istanbul, where he had been living unregistered for over three years, he said the police coerced him and other Syrian detainees into signing a form,” then put them in a bus, which headed then to Syria.
Turkey hosts about 3.6 million Syrian refugees, half of whom live in Istanbul, as it’s the largest number of refugees comparing to any other country in the world.