Turkey illegally deports refugees into conflict zones in northern Syria: Amnesty

Amnesty International charged on Friday that Turkey spent months leading up to its military incursion into northeast Syria “forcibly deporting refugees to the war-torn country, in advance of attempting to create a so-called ‘safe zone’ on the Syrian side of the border.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Amnesty International charged on Friday that Turkey spent months leading up to its military incursion into northeast Syria “forcibly deporting refugees to the war-torn country, in advance of attempting to create a so-called ‘safe zone’ on the Syrian side of the border.”  

In the new report, entitled, “Sent to a War Zone: Turkey’s Illegal Deportations Of Syrian Refugees,” the international human rights watchdog met with or spoke to refugees who said Turkish police “had beaten or threatened them into” falsely “signing documents stating they were asking to return to Syria,” putting their lives in grave danger. 

“Turkey’s claim that refugees from Syria are choosing to walk straight back into the conflict is dangerous and dishonest. Rather, our research shows that people are being tricked or forced into returning,” said Anna Shea, Researcher on Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International. 

Turkey’s cross-border operations against Syrian Kurdish forces began on Oct. 9. The offensive has left at least 235 people dead and displaced over 300,000 others, according to local officials. 

One of Ankara’s stated goals in its military offensive is to resettle Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey. Many displaced Syrians in Turkey—who fled Damascus’ forceful crackdown on its citizens and the ensuing civil war from 2011 onwards—are not from the same areas of Syria that Ankara plans to settle.  

They also have different ethnic backgrounds from the local populations in northern Syria, sparking fears of intentional demographic change by resettling Syrians with different ethnicities there. 

Last week, Germany’s defense minister suggested the creation of an “internationally-controlled security zone” in northern Syria following a halt in Turkey’s military operations. Germany announced on Friday that it could send up to 2,500 troops to monitor the proposed international buffer zone.

Read More: Germany could send up to 2,500 troops to Syria safe zone: reports 

For now, though, the area is dominated by Turkish and Turkish-backed forces that have been accused of war crimes against local Kurdish officials and civilian populations.

Read More: Amnesty accuses Turkey, Turkish-backed forces of war crimes in Syria

Amnesty estimates that, over the past few months, the number of Syrian refugees Ankara has forced to return to unsafe situations is likely in the hundreds.  

“It is chilling that Turkey’s deal with Russia this week agrees to the ‘safe and voluntary return’ of refugees to a yet to-be-established ‘safe zone.’ Returns until now have been anything but safe and voluntary – and now millions more refugees from Syria are at risk,” said Shea.  

Amnesty’s research showed that many had been coerced or misled when signing so-called “voluntary return” documents. Some said they were beaten or threatened with violence to force them to sign. Others were told they were signing a registration document, that it was a confirmation of having received a blanket from a detention center, or a form that expressed their desire to remain in Turkey.

The most common explanation given to people for their deportation is that they are unregistered or outside their province of registration. However, even people with valid IDs for their province of residence have been deported.

“The European Union and the rest of the international community, instead of devoting their energies to keeping people seeking asylum from their territories, should dramatically increase resettlement commitments for Syrian refugees from Turkey.”