Quelle: Independent

Allegations demonstrate a shift in Turkey’s attitude towards Syrian refugees

Will Worley

Turkish security forces have shot dead refugees escaping from the Syrian conflict, according to reports.

UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleged 16 people seeking sanctuary in Turkey have been shot over the past four months.

They said those killed included three children.

Other examples compiled by the Syrian Observatory include the alleged killings of a man and his child at Ras al-Ain, at the eastern end of the Turkish-Syrian border.

In the west of the country, two refugees were reportedly shot dead at Guvveci on 5 March.

“It’s in all areas. It happens to people coming from Idlib, Aleppo, Isis areas, Kurdish areas,” a spokesman for the Syrian Observatory told The Independent.

Other sources, including a Syrian people smuggler based in Turkey and an officer of the UK-supported Free Syrian Police, told The Times they believed the number of refugees killed by Turkish forces was actually far higher.

They said this was because people killed on the Syrian side of the border were buried in the conflict zone, where record keeping is much more difficult.

The smuggler told the newspaper refugees attempting to cross the border would now “either be killed or captured”.

Citing Turkey’s former open-door refugee policy, he added: “Turkish soldiers used to help the refugees across, carry their bags for them. Now they shoot at them.”