Via ECRE – On March 22 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported interceptions of large groups of Syrian refugees by Turkish security forces who since Deecember 2017 have “summarily deported them to the war-ravaged Idlib governorate in Syria.” In its reponse the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) in Turkey’s Ministry of Interior denies the allegations and underlined the fact that Turkey offers temporary protection to more than 3.5 million Syrians. Continue reading Human Rights Watch report: push backs of Syrian refugees by Turkey
Tag Archives: Syrian-Turkish border
Syrian refugees in Turkey face calls to return as public mood changes
Syrian refugees in Turkey face calls to return as public mood changes. For years, most Turks courteously accepted the Syrians fleeing to their country. But attitudes towards refugees appear to be hardening, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hinted the solution could lie in Afrin, the Kurdish enclave in northwestern Syria his troops have just occupied.
Via IRIN – There is talk of infrastructure being rebuilt in Afrin, of voluntary returns, of perhaps 350,000 to 500,000 Syrians being encouraged to go back. But few refugees in Turkey are from Afrin, and it’s unlikely many would want to return to an active war zone, especially if they’re not Kurdish or from that region. Surveys indicate that even if the fighting ends, half of the estimated 3.8 million Syrians (3.4 million registered and up to 400,000 unregistered) in Turkey intend to stay. Continue reading Syrian refugees in Turkey face calls to return as public mood changes
No Way Out – The European Union is funding military equipment used by Turkey to stop refugees from fleeing the Syrian Civil War and entering the EU
Via The Black Sea – Under an agreement in March 2016, the EU pledged six billion Euro to Turkey to effectively trap millions of refugees within its country and stop them from entering the European Union.
This is not the only cash from the EU. It also pays Turkey for military equipment which is used at its borders with Syria and Greece to halt those wishing to seek asylum in the 28-member bloc.
An investigation into EU contracts by Politiken and Danwatch (Denmark) in partnership with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) reveals that EU has supplied Turkey with 83 million Euro in armoured military vehicles and surveillance equipment for what witnesses say is aggressive patrolling of the borders.
These deals also risk the EU being complicit in possible violations of the international rights of refugees.
Turkey: Mass Deportations of Syrians
EU Should Raise Issue, Pledge Aid at Conference
Via Human Rights Watch – (Brussels) – Turkish security forces have routinely intercepted hundreds, and at times thousands, of asylum seekers at the Turkey-Syria border since at least December 2017 and summarily deported them to the war-ravaged Idlib governorate in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. Turkish border guards have shot at asylum seekers trying to enter Turkey using smuggling routes, killing and wounding them, and have deported to Idlib newly arrived Syrians in the Turkish town of Antakya, 30 kilometers from the Syrian border.The Russian-Syrian military alliance’s December offensive against anti-government forces in Idlib has displaced almost 400,000 civilians, according to the UN. They have joined more than 1.3 million others trapped inside Idlib in insecure, overcrowded camps, and in makeshift camps in fields near the closed Turkish border where they are under constant threat of attack and lack food, clean water, shelter, health care, and aid. At a March 26, 2018 summit meeting in Bulgaria, the European Union should press Turkey to allow Syrian civilians fleeing fighting to seek protection inside Turkey and pledge increased aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey and the region.
Migrants: over 5,000 apprehended in Turkey in 7 days
Via ANSA med – Turkish authorities have apprehended over the past week a total of 5,371 migrants and refugees who were trying to illegally cross the borders with the European Union or to enter the country, the Turkish interior ministry has said. They included 389 who were intercepted at sea, it said. The ministry also said that 136 suspected human traffickers were arrested. Continue reading Migrants: over 5,000 apprehended in Turkey in 7 days
Turkey plans to establish refugee camps in Syria
Via InfoMigrants – The Turkish government says it will set up camps for 170,000 displaced people within Syria ahead of an influx of refugees from the Syrian region of Afrin.
A spokesman for Turkey’s foreign ministry, Hami Aksoy, said on Tuesday that new refugee camps would be established in nine different regions in Syria including Azaz, Elbil, Tugli, Teleffer, Naddah, Bardakh and Masad Rufi. Continue reading Turkey plans to establish refugee camps in Syria
The correspondent of Independent:The real victims of ‘Operation Olive Branch’ are migrants and babies
Via Diken (Link in Turkish) – Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk went to Syria’s Afrin region, where the ‘Operation of the Olive Tree’ was carried out.
Fisk wrote their impressions of the civilian population: “Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria appeared the real victims – migrants, babies, women and children”.
BREAKING: Syrian refugees fleeing violence shot at and beaten at Turkish border, HRW says
Via ABC News – Desperate Syrian refugees fleeing heightened violence in the north-west of Syria are being shot at and beaten at the Turkish border as they try to flee, Human Rights Watch says.
The human rights group said refugees who had succeeded in crossing to Turkey using smuggling routes told of Turkish border guards shooting at them during their crossing, while others reported asylum seekers being detained and denied medical assistance. Continue reading BREAKING: Syrian refugees fleeing violence shot at and beaten at Turkish border, HRW says
A new wave of immigrants from Idlib to Turkey
Via euronews (Link in Turkish) – Due to intense bombardment by the Syrian army backed by Iranian and Russian forces in the Syrian cities Hama and Idlib against ISIS, tens of thousands of people abandoned their houses and reached the Turkish border since November 2017.
Half of the 144-kilometer wall built on the Turkish-Iranian border completed
Via T24 (Link in Turkish) – It is stated that the wall built on the Iranian border will be completed in the first 6 months of 2018. The Prime Ministry Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), which has built the third longest wall in the world on the Syrian border, has completed half of the 144-kilometer wall which is being built on the Turkish-Iranian border. TOKİ Chairman Ergün Turan said that the 57,152 kilometer part of the wall was built on the border of Ağrı with the remaining 86,848 kilometers in Iğdır. Turan said that the border wall will be completed in the first 6 months of 2018.
Continue reading Half of the 144-kilometer wall built on the Turkish-Iranian border completed