LONDON (Arab News) – Turkish authorities are violently returning Afghan asylum seekers from Iran as soon as they arrive in Turkey, Human Rights Watch has said.
The practice is in violation of international law and some families have been separated as a result, the rights organization said.
Six Afghans, five of whom were pushed back, told HRW that the Turkish army had severely beat them and their fellow travelers and expelled them in groups of 50 to 300 people as they tried to cross the border into Turkey.
Some people had their bones broken as a result of the force used.
“Turkish authorities are denying Afghans trying to flee to safety the right to seek asylum,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW. “Turkish soldiers are also brutally mistreating the Afghans while unlawfully pushing them back.”
“EU member states should not consider Turkey a safe third country for Afghan asylum seekers and should suspend all deportations and forced returns of Afghan nationals, including to third countries like Turkey where their rights would not be respected,” Wille said.
“They should also ensure that Afghans entering the EU via Turkey have access to fair and efficient asylum procedures,” he added.
HRW said it had remotely interviewed six Afghans between Sept. 25 and Oct. 11. Five of them were hiding in Turkey. All had fled Afghanistan shortly before or after Aug. 15, when the Taliban took control of Kabul.
The Afghans said they had traveled through Pakistan and Iran. Turkish soldiers fired above their heads and two said they were brutally beaten by soldiers.
One of the Afghans said he successfully remained in Turkey on his first attempt while another had been deported. The other four said Turkish soldiers forced them back up to three times before they succeeded in remaining in Turkey.
Two said that Turkish forces destroyed their possessions, and those of everyone in the group they were expelled with.
“Once they arrested us, they confiscated our phones, money, food, and anything else we were carrying and burned all of our things in a big fire,” one woman said. “I assume they did this to send the message that we should not try to cross the border again.”