Erdogan committing new crimes against Syrians

Ali Rajab

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is committing a new crime against Syrian refugees.

Turkish border guards have recently killed a woman from Idlib, only because she tried to cross her country’s border with Turkey. Two other people were wounded in the same attack.

Documentation

This brings the number of Syrian refugees killed by Turkish fire up to 451, including 84 children and 58 women, according to the Center for the Documentation of Turkish Violations in Northern Syria.

It said in a recent report that those killed by Turkish troops made only one blunder: try to escape the violence in their country and cross to safety in Turkey.

Most of those killed were also inhabitants of villages along the border between Turkey and Syria, the center said.

Smuggling rings are active in the border area between the two states. They charge Syrians who want to flee for their life in Turkey between $2,000 and $3,000 each.

Lawbreaking

The crimes committed by Turkish troops against the Syrian refugees violate international law that stipulates the protection of refugees.

This is why rights groups have denounced these crimes and called on the international community to provide protection for the refugees.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called on Erdogan to prevent Turkish security men from arbitrarily evicting Syrian refugees from Turkey. Some of those evicted, the observatory said, are opponents of the Syrian regime, which means that their eviction puts their safety in total uncertainty.