At other border crossings, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Turkish border guards fired warning shots into the air but did not target asylum seekers directly.
Thirteen said Turkish border guards shot toward them or other fleeing asylum seekers as they tried to cross while still in Syria, killing 10 people, including one child, and injuring several more. Human Rights Watch spoke to 16 Syrian refugees who entered Turkey with smugglers between May and December 2017, 15 in person in Urfa and Gaziantep, in southern Turkey, and the other remotely.
Human Rights Watch described its findings in a letter on Januto Turkey’s interior minister. “As fighting in Idlib and Afrin displaces thousands more, the number of Syrians trapped along the border willing to risk their lives to reach Turkey is only likely to increase.” “Syrians fleeing to the Turkish border seeking safety and asylum are being forced back with bullets and abuse,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. In some cases, Turkish border guards beat asylum seekers they detained and denied them medical assistance. Refugees who succeeded in crossing to Turkey, using smuggling routes, told Human Rights Watch that Turkish border guards shot at them and others while attempting to cross into Turkey. According to the UN, 247,000 Syrians were displaced to the border area between Decemand January 15, 2018. Syrians are fleeing heightened violence in Idlib to seek refuge near the Turkish border, which remains closed to all but critical medical cases.
(Beirut) – Guards at Turkey’s closed border with Syria are indiscriminately shooting at and summarily returning Syrian asylum seekers attempting to cross into Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today. A wall along the border between Turkey and Syria is seen in Kilis province, Turkey.
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