At the Syrian-Turkish border, Syrian asylum seekers risk their lives, as they may be killed, tortured or assaulted on their way to escape armed conflict and a war that has been going on for over a decade.
Each year, dozens of Syrians lose their lives at the hands of Turkish border guards in an attempt by Turkey to prevent them from entering its territories under the excuse of fighting human trafficking.
Bodies concerned with refugee affairs and human rights did not take action to stop these grave violations that amount to be war crimes.
This report, released by Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, shows interviews with three people in northwest Syria who were subjected to abuse and torture by the Turkish border guards while trying to cross the Syrian-Turkish border, in addition to a media activist.
It explains how members of Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), and Turkish military personnel are involved in the crimes committed against Syrian asylum seekers.
The Department was able to contact these individuals and request filmed interviews, however, they refused to be filmed and just sent voice notes to protect themselves of being detained later on espionage charges.
Torture survivors
“They show mercy to no one” with these words, the young man, Musa al-Faysel, described the Turkish border guards’ actions against illegal asylum seekers who try to cross the border.
Musa, from Idlib, northwest Syria, said, “When we crossed into Turkey, the Turkish border guards began to beat and torture us for a long time till we passed out. Later we found ourselves in a prison where we stayed for two days, then they handed us over to HTS militants.”
“We were received on the Syrian side and remained arrested for two days until we paid 200 Turkish Liras to be liberated,” he added.
The situation was different with Samer Rajab, a pseudonym, who tried to cross the border four times. Despite the torture, he received each time, his desire to change his grim reality pushes him to risk his life.
“I will keep trying to cross the border. The Turkish border guards will either kill me, or I will succeed in crossing the border and find a job later,” Samer said.
Samer, from Idlib, added, “I was tricked by the smuggler.” He narrates his fourth failed attempt to cross to Turkey, saying, “the smuggler told me the foggy weather was the perfect timing as it would help us cross safely. As soon as we stepped into Turkish territory, there was an armored vehicle waiting for us. The Turkish border guards started beating us with their batons and weapons.”
After he was beaten along with seven other individuals, they were transferred to a detention center which was an empty room, as he called it. They stayed there for one day in extreme conditions and below zero temperatures, then were taken to the border where the border guards told them to go back where they came from.
Abdulkarim Ahmad, a pseudonym of an IDP from Aleppo and live in Afrin, went out along with dozens of people, including women and children, to cross the border after staying a few days at the smuggler’s house.
Ahmad noted that after being detected by the Turkish border guards’ cameras, seconds later, they were surrounded. They separated the men from the women and children and began beating the men. Every time they hit them harder, the screams of women and children grew louder, calling it “a horror film”.
The group stayed in an open yard under the rain for 10 hours as a punishment to not come back again.
Since the beginning of the Syrian war, more than 500 Syrians have been killed by Turkish border guards or their assaults, according to the Violations Documentation Center in Syria. The transgressions are not limited to asylum seekers only. They targeted children, farmers, and ordinary people in front of their houses or while working in farmland adjacent to the border. The Monitoring and Documentation Department recorded the death of over 40 individuals, including children and farmers, on Syrian territories by Turkish border guards since 2011.
The Department has recorded the death of 18 people and injury of 47 others, including one child and two women, since 2023.
Agreements paid with lives
Mahmoud Samih, a pseudonym, a media activist living in Azaz, told North Press, “everything that happens on the border is according to agreements and coordination among the SNA, the HTS, and the Turkish border guards, which is nothing new. This has been going on for over three years.”
Mahmoud talking over WhatsApp, said that human smugglers make deals with the HTS, as no smuggler can traffic anyone into Turkey without passing through HTS’ checkpoints and paying $50 for each person that crosses. In case the individuals do not pass and get back, the HTS checkpoints return only $25.
He noted that some smugglers coordinate with the Turkish border guards to help take asylum seekers into Turkish territories in return for hundreds of dollars. As for opposition factions, the commanders charge the smuggler $150 for each person.
A media activist living in Afrin considered what the three parties are doing against Syrians as the ugliest form of exploitation. He called them human trafficking gangs on Facebook, saying, ” the border guards, whether of the SNA or the HTS, take their shares of money from smuggling humans into Turkey.
The factions consider the border checkpoints as a gold mine to make thousands of dollars on a daily basis by supervising the smuggling directly or through exclusive mediators from their group.”
“The people who want to go to Turkey undergo the cruelest forms of exploitation. When these people are beaten and tortured by the Turkish border guards, the factions keep silent as if it is not their concern.
Since March 11, regions of northwest Syria has been witnessing protests organized under the name of “stop violations of Turkish border guards” following the assault of the border guards on eight men and one child resulting in the death of two.
Relatives received the body of Abdurrazaq al-Qastal from the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey after being tortured and deformed. On March 17, relatives of the other victim, Khalil Sabah, received his body with marks of beating, an autopsy, and stitches visible all over his body.
In one of the interviews conducted by North Press with a relative of a victim attacked by the border guards while he was farming his land adjacent to the Syrian-Turkish border in Ain Diwar region in the countryside of Derik in the far northeast Syria, the father talked about when the border guards killed his son before his eyes.
He said, “They flew a drone and shot at us when we tried to bring him home when he was injured. The drone came and shot at him to make sure he was dead.”
“They did not let us take his body. They shot at us too and injured my daughter and sister-in-law,” he added.
Many incidents led to the death of hundreds of Syrian civilians directly and deliberately shot by Turkish Border guards on the pretext of combating human trafficking. Turkish authorities never commented on these incidents, turning a blind eye to them.
International laws and standards
Turkey has the right to secure its border with Syria, but all international laws and standards prohibit endangering asylum-seekers on borders. The laws also impose respecting international standards on the use of lethal force as well as the right to life and physical safety, including the absolute prohibition of subjecting anyone to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Under international law, human rights law, and international instruments, all migrants have the right to life, and all states are required to protect all migrants and asylum seekers. It prohibits the infringement upon their lives and extrajudicial killings and imposes on states not to torture or subject them to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. According to article 9 of the International Covenant on Rights, anyone who caused extrajudicial killings must be prosecuted.
