Turkish forces have killed more than fifteen migrants on the border, reported ANHA news agency on Saturday. These individuals, including 23-year-old Yehya Ehmed el-Xemîs, were attempting to cross from North and East Syria into Turkey, aiming for Europe.
El-Xemîs was part of a group that left Ras al-Ayn (Serêkaniyê) on 25 May 2024, but a relative said that communication with the group stopped suddenly. It was 5 June when the relatives learned that he and his group had been killed. They said that attempts to contact Yehya’s phone had been answered by an unidentified person who said, “The owner of this phone was killed on the night of 4 June 2024, do not call again.”
According to sources, the group had just crossed 300 metres into Turkey when they were fired upon by border soldiers. It was later learnt that the victims were buried en masse in Şanlıurfa (Riha) province close to the border. “Yehya and those killed with him have been secretly buried in Riha,” a relative disclosed.
Like all the families, el-Xemîs’s family is desperate to reclaim their son’s body, but their efforts to make telephone contact with the authorities have been fruitless. The actions of the Turkish forces have been condemned by the victims’ relatives. “Even if their entry was illegal, they could have detained them or returned them to us; there was absolutely no justification for such a brutal killing,” they said.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has previously documented a distressing pattern of abuse by Turkish border guards against Syrians attempting to cross the border, including allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings.
The incident also casts a shadow over the European Union’s migration deal with Turkey, under which Ankara received financial aid in exchange for controlling the flow of migrants into Europe. Critics argue that despite substantial funding intended to improve conditions for migrants, transparency and accountability have been lacking in the Erdoğan government’s management of these resources. This situation has essentially given Turkey a free pass, allowing a disregard for the safety and humane treatment of migrants, with intended outcomes remaining unmet and marred by violations.
