ANKARA (AA) – A Turkish deputy Thursday slammed “inexplicable” allegations by an international human rights group that Turkish border guards have killed and injured asylum-seekers who crossed from Syria into Turkey.
Mustafa Yeneroglu, a ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party deputy and the chair of parliament’s Human Rights Investigation Commission, released a statement saying the report by US-based Human Rights Watch is untruthful, relies on untrustworthy sources, and even uses photos not taken in the region.
“While senior Turkish officials claim they are welcoming Syrian refugees with open borders and open arms, their border guards are killing and beating them,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch, when the report was released earlier this week. “Firing at traumatized men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling.”
Yeneroglu said that some 67,000 illegal migrants have already been caught this year by Turkish police along the border.
“If an incident happens on the border that involves injuries or fatalities, a report is immediately sent to law enforcers and military prosecution to investigate,” he said.
The deputy also said the people interviewed for the report “are uncomfortable with [border control] measures and use illegal migrants to get money.”
“Instead of interviewing the smugglers, there should be a report about human trafficking in the region,” Yeneroglu added.
“The EU shouldn’t just stand by and watch as Turkey uses live ammunition and rifle butts to stem the refugee flow,” said HRW’s Simpson. “EU officials should recognize that their red light for refugees to enter the EU gives Turkey a green light to close its border, exacting a heavy price on war-ravaged asylum seekers with nowhere else to go.”
Yeneroglu countered that Turkey’s “open-door policy” for Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war continues, while at the same time the government continues to fight human traffickers.
Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
The conflict in Syria has now driven more than 4 million people — a sixth of the country’s population — to seek sanctuary in neighboring countries, making it the largest refugee crisis in a quarter-century, according to the UN.
