HRW criticizes the illegal transfer of Syria detainees to Turkey
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch denounced the illegal transfers to Turkey of more than 60 Syrians detained by Ankara and its local proxies in Syria’s northeast in 2019.
The rights group stated that Turkey and its Syrian opposition proxies detained the 63 Syrians between October and December 2019 in the border area of Ras al-Ain in Syria’s northeast, and that after taking the control of the region from Kurdish fighters.
According to HRW, the men, Arabs and Kurds, are arresting about claims that they have links to Kurdish groups considered by Ankara as terrorists. The rights group also said that they have been accused with undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state, membership in a terrorist organization, and murder.
Moreover, Michael Page, HRW’s deputy regional director, said that not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey-life without parole on at least five of them.
Indeed, during an October 2019 attack, Turkey and its Syrian proxies took the control of Ras al-Ain. In that offensive, there was a 120-kilometer long strip of land from Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of its southern border.
AFP cited what the HRW said that Turkish authorities have not given indication that the detainees committed crimes or they were active fighters with Kurdish groups.
The page also said: Turkish authorities, as an occupying power, are required to respect people’s rights under the law of occupation in northeastern Syria, including the prohibition on arbitrary detention and on the transfer of people to their territory. Instead, they are violating their obligations by arresting these Syrian men and carting them off to Turkey to face the most dubious and vaguest of charges connected to alleged activity in Syria.
Whereas, HRW stated that it could only confirm 63 transfers, adding that available proof suggests that the number of Syrians taken to Turkey could be almost 200.
