Syria, terrible conditions in the “safe zone” occupied by Turkey: no access to means of subsistence and “protection” for traffickers to move around the country

BEIRUT – Turkish authorities are deporting or pressuring thousands of Syrians to leave the country in Tel Abyad, a remote Turkish-occupied district of northern Syria where humanitarian conditions are dire. He made it known today Human Rights Watch.Between January and June 2023, the Tel Abyad border crossing administration published monthly or daily numbers of Syrian returnees on its Facebook page, labeling them all as volunteers. An analysis of the page reveals a more than twofold increase compared to the same period in 2022.

Those repatriations were not at all voluntary. While Turkey has argued in the past that all repatriations are voluntary, the search for Human Rights Watch ha detected that Turkish forces have, since at least 2017, summarily arrested, detained and deported thousands of Syrian refugees, often forcing them to sign “voluntary” repatriation forms and forcing them to cross the border into northern Syria. Turkish authorities did not respond to a letter sent by Human Rights Watch on February 1 sharing research findings and requesting information. “Turkey’s ‘voluntary’ returns are often forced returns to ‘safe zones’ that are sinks of danger and desperation,” he said Adam Coogledeputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

That “Safe Zone” is false. “Turkey’s pledge to create ‘safe zones’ rings hollow as Syrians find themselves forced to undertake perilous journeys to escape the inhumane conditions in Tel Abyad.”Human Rights Watch reviewed statistics on border crossings from Turkey to Syria provided by an informed source, revealing discrepancies with data published on the official Facebook pages of the three border crossing administrations in the categorization of returns.

Repatriated and deported. The statistics provided reveal that between January and December 2023, Turkish authorities expelled 57,519 Syrians and other people through border crossings, including 16,652 through the Tel Abyad crossing. Analysis of data from official pages shows variations in reporting practices, with one crossing, Bab al-Hawa, distinguishing between returnees and deportees, matching statistics shared with Human Rights Watch, while the Bab al-Salama and Tel Abyad they do not. According to the informed source, staff from all three border administrations interview each returnee and collect data, including on the reason for repatriation, but Turkish officials have successfully put pressure on the Bab al border administrations -Salama and Tel Abyad not to publish the numbers of expulsions. This has caused Bab al-Salama, since at least September 2022, to classify all returns as simply “returned,” and Tel Abyad, since at least January 2021, to classify all returns as “voluntary.”

The truth is that these are areas where human rights are violated. Before September 2022, Bab al-Salama used to publish how many of the overall returns were voluntary. Tel Abyad stopped publishing return data in June 2023. In 2023, Turkey increased the number of Syrians it sends back via Tel Abyad, which has been under the control of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army since 2019. Turkey claims it wants to turn the areas of northern Syria under its control, including Tel Abyad, into “safe zones,” but in reality these areas are riddled with human rights abuses. Turkey’s incursion into the 150-kilometer strip of land between Raqqa and al-Hasakeh provinces has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, forcing them to flee their homes.

Turkish intelligence involved in summary executions. In May 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an announced a plan to create a “safe zone” in Turkish-occupied territories in northern Syria and build homes to house up to one million Syrians living in Turkey. A relationship Of Human Rights Watch published on February 29 documented serious human rights violations and potential war crimes committed mainly by local armed groups supported by Turkey in these lawless and unsafe areas. Human Rights Watch also found that members of the Turkish military and intelligence agencies were involved in carrying out and supervising abuses.Human Rights Watch interviewed seven deportees sent to Tel Abyad, a human rights researcher, a border crossing official, the president of a local Tel Abyad group hosting deportees, and a journalist.

The testimonies of the deportees. Six deportees reported that they held a Turkish Temporary Protection Permit when living in Turkey, which they should to protect legally Syrian refugees from forced return to Syria. Six said they were coerced or coerced into signing “voluntary” return forms. All said they were from other regions of Syria and had no significant ties to Tel Abyad. One said Turkish police arrested him on the street in Antakya a month after his wife and three children were killed in the earthquake of February 2023 which devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria. He said authorities detained him on his way to work even though he had a valid protection document.

“I sign documents written in Turkish, but I don’t know that language.” “They made me sign documents written in Turkish, and I don’t speak Turkish,” he said. “They wouldn’t have translated it. They force us to sign these documents to make them look like voluntary repatriations.” All seven deportees said the Turkish authorities did not ask them their preferred border crossing for their return. Two said the deportations separated them from family members. “My wife and two children are still in Istanbul, I have no relatives and I have nowhere to go here and I cannot take them back to Syria,” said a man originally from Deir Ezzor.

“I’m trapped here.” As a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Turkey has a duty not to separate children from their parents against their will, except where the competent authorities have determined that the separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Since Tel Abyad came under Turkish occupation in 2019, it has had no operational crossing points to other parts of Syria, leaving expensive and dangerous smuggling routes the only viable option for leaving the border strip.

The role of traffickers. Four deportees said they used smugglers to reach other non-government-controlled areas in northern Syria. “I faced many difficulties along the way,” said a 28-year-old deportee who was smuggled secretly. “We were sure that we either lived or died. I left Tel Abyad at 8 in the morning and arrived at my destination 30 hours later.” One of them said he hoped to find a way back to Turkey: “I’m from Deir Ezzor but I can’t go there. I have nothing left in Syria. I absolutely can’t go to my city.” An aid worker whose organization provides temporary shelter for deportees in Tel Abyad said economic conditions in the region are terrible.

You only rely on assistance. He said residents struggled to find work and many had to rely on subsistence farming. Many deportees were forced to rely on limited outside assistance. “I try to survive on one meal a day here, if by any chance I am able to cover my expenses,” one of them said. “Most days we sleep hungry.” The aid worker said his organisation, the Al Bir Society for Social Services in Tel Abyad, hosts around 40 deportees a day and hosted 1,500 in total between June and December . “The organization’s capacity remains limited,” he said. He said the deportees sleep in terrible conditions because there is not enough space.

We end up sleeping on the street. A 22-year-old deportee from Idlib said: “When there is no longer room for us [all’organizzazione]we sleep on the streets of Tel Abyad or in nearby mosques.” The lack of access to other parts of Syria has forced some deportees to turn to expensive and dangerous smuggling routes to escape the harsh conditions in Tel Abyad. The deportees who had to use dangerous smuggling routes have said there is unofficial cooperation between traffickers and the Syrian National Army (SNA) and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which control the enclave’s borders.

500 dollars to travel to Syria; 1,000 to go to Türkiye. They said it costs between $300 and $500 to be smuggled to another region of Syria and more than $1,000 to be smuggled into Turkey. They said security is a serious concern. “If someone is trying to leave through smugglers, one of the parties could arrest them on charges of being an agent or a spy, which could put them in prison,” the aid worker said. Informed sources said Turkish authorities twice facilitated the transfer of Syrian deportees from Tel Abyad to Azaz, elsewhere in northern Syria, or back to Turkey in August 2023 after deportees complained about the situation in Tel Abyad .

Humanitarian missions. Since, Human Rights Watch is no longer aware of subsidized transfers. “I just want to reunite with my family and be able to support a life for my children and my wife,” one deportee said. “This is impossible in Tel Abyad. We have to get out of here.” Since October 2022, UN agencies have organized three one-day cross-border humanitarian missions in the areas of Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad. The most recent mission, in May 2023, was the first time UN agencies reached the city of Tel Abyad since 2019.

The essential problems of the people are unsolved. Significant humanitarian needs remain largely unaddressed, according to aid organizations, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) than in June 2023 he defined the “alarming” humanitarian situation in the country. The aid worker, as well as many of the deportees interviewed, said they had not received any help from Turkey or local authorities. As the occupying power in Tel Abyad, Turkey has an obligation to maintain law and order and public life and to protect Syrians from violence, whatever its origin.

The constraints that Turkey has. Turkey is bound by both international humanitarian law and international human rights law to ensure that its officials and those under its command do not commit violations of international law, to investigate alleged violations and to ensure that those responsible are punished appropriately .