Politics

Turkey deports 29,895 Syrian refugees and asylum seekers: STJ report

“The Tell Abyad crossing ranked first in the number of deportations, having witnessed the illegal return of 10,725 refugees.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2023/09/22 22:01

Members of the Turkish police search for illegal immigrants. (Photo: Anadolu Agency)

Turkey Syrian refugees Turkey Syrian asylum seekers deportation

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Between January and August 2023, Turkish authorities had forcibly deported 29,895 Syrian refugees and asylum seekers through three border crossings: Tell Abyad, Bab al-Hawa, and Bab al-Slamah, the Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) said in a report this week.

“The Tell Abyad crossing ranked first in the number of deportations, having witnessed the illegal return of 10,725 refugees, according to an informed source. The Bab al-Hawa crossing came in second with 9,591 such returns, which have been reported on their official Facebook page, while the Bab al-Salamah crossing came in third, as it channeled 9,579 deportations,” the report said.

Turkey has provided temporary protection to 3.6 million Syrian refugees, who have migrated continuously to the country since the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

But in May 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he intends to resettle one million refugees in northern Syria, despite Syria remaining unsafe.

Moreover, anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey has escalated amid deteriorating economic conditions, with Syrians seen as the culprit for the crushing devaluation value of the country’s currency. Seen as a source of cheap labor, Syrian refugees have been blamed for a perceptive lowering of salaries for locals.

In an official statistic, the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management announced that 58,758 Syrians returned in a “voluntarily, safe, and dignified” manner in 2022, bringing the total number of returnees to 539,332 returns since they started repatriation measures in 2019, the report said.

The STJ also said that testimonies from Syrians corroborate that Turkish authorities continue to force refugees held in those centers to sign the “voluntary return” papers and deport even those with legal documents, including refugees who possess the “temporary protection” document (Kimlik) and work permits.

Furthermore, the STJ report said the forced deportations—the majority of which are collective—violate Turkish Law 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP), issued in April 2013.

“The law grants Syrians “temporary protection in Türkiye, ensures their non-refoulment, and guarantees their stay until safety is established in their original countries.”