"During March and April 2016, Turkish border guards used violence against Syrian asylum seekers and smugglers, killing five people, including a child, and seriously injuring 14 others," Human Rights Watch said.
The watchdog added that the violent and even deadly actions of the border guards continued even despite the so-called open-door policy for Syrian refugees, declared by Ankara.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with several opposition factions and terrorist groups seeking to topple the incumbent government. Hostilities and instability in the Middle Eastern nation made millions of the Syrians leave their hometowns in order to seek asylum in foreign countries. The majority of refugees try to leave Syria through the Turkish-Syrian border either to stay in Turkey or to move further to European states.
