The news comes as there is rising criticism in Europe over a deal brokered between the EU and Turkey to relocate "irregular migrants" from Greece back to Turkey in return — on a one-for-one basis — for Syrian refugees being sent from Turkey to EU member states.
Turkish border guards are shooting, beating & killing Syrian asylum seekers: New report https://t.co/kAP3KaSumL pic.twitter.com/yJa0yE4HEh
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) May 10, 2016
The deal has been heavily criticized because of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's record on human rights, his suppression of free speech and independent media as well as his war against the Kurds. Many NGO's in Greece have backed the UN refugee agency UNHCR in boycotting the EU-Turkey deal over human rights abuses in Turkey.
"Turkey's border closure is trapping tens of thousands of civilians in Syrian displacement camps near the border which are under attack from government forces and [Daesh, also known as ISIL], recently killing 20 and injuring 37 people in a single attack," a spokesman for Human Rights Watch told Sputnik Tuesday (May 10).
"The EU-Turkey refugee deal aims to contain Syrians in Turkey and — by encouraging so-called safe zones for Syrians to flee to — in Syria. That might explain the EU's deafening silence on Turkey's border closure and how it traps Syrians in border displacement camps where they are now under attack. We hope the EU will publicly call on Turkey to re-open its borders to asylum seekers and to stop killing and assaulting them," she told Sputnik.
"While senior Turkish officials claim they are welcoming Syrian refugees with open borders and open arms, their border guards are killing and beating them. Firing at traumatized men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The hostilities continue to threaten Syrians already displaced by fighting. According to witnesses, at around 5 pm on May 5, three airstrikes hit the Kamuna camp, sheltering 4,500 displaced Syrians near Sarmada in northern Idlib province, five kilometers from Turkey's increasingly impenetrable border.
Witness Interviews
An independent humanitarian source in Turkey told HRW that medics recovered 20 bodies, including two children, and that at least 37 people were injured, including 10 who lost one or more limbs and who were transferred to Turkey for medical care.
Syria refugees wouldn't be stuck at the border to be bombed if "safe" Turkey had let them in https://t.co/erp3FZmGyA pic.twitter.com/DbDJYbO0fm
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) May 6, 2016
Human Rights Watch interviewed victims and witnesses involved in seven incidents between the first week of March and April 17, in which Turkish border guards shot dead three asylum seekers (one man, one woman, and a 15-year-old boy) and one smuggler; beat to death one smuggler; shot and injured eight asylum seekers, including three children, aged 3, 5, and 9; and severely assaulted six asylum seekers.
