The Turkish state has been implicated in the forced relocation of Syrian refugees to areas under its control in Syria over the weekend, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday.
The SOHR has documented the transfer of more than 300 Syrian refugees to centres at the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border gates, without regard to their identities or places of residence. These actions, according to SOHR, are part of an ongoing effort by Turkey to alter the demographic composition of regions it controls in Northern Syria.
The SOHR described the collection centres at the border as “human slaughterhouses”, where individuals are subjected to physical and psychological torture, sometimes resulting in death. Refugees are also forced into laborious tasks such as cleaning sewage systems, digging trenches and collecting stones.
The SOHR shared the testimony of 24-year-old Syrian refugee M.Q., who recounted being captured by Turkish soldiers while trying to cross into Turkey from the village of Telûl in the Selfîn district. M.Q. described enduring two days of torture at a border outpost before being deported back to Syria.
