Human Rights Watch: Turkey forces refugees to return to Syria by gunpoint

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A global human rights organization said Monday that Turkey arbitrarily arrested and deported hundreds of Syrian refugees and forced them to return to Syria, sometimes even at gunpoint.

Human Rights Watch said in its report that from February through July, Syrian refugees told them that Turkish authorities arrested them in their homes and workplaces, held them in deteriorating conditions and forced them to sign voluntary return forms.

The interviewed refugees said they were then driven to a border checkpoint with northern Syria where they were forced to cross back into the country.

The organizers said the interviews run counter to Turkey's official record that they have shown generosity to Syrian refugees and others coming into the country.

"In violation of international law Turkish authorities have rounded up hundreds of Syrian refugees, even unaccompanied children, and forced them back to northern Syria," Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"Although Turkey provided temporary protection to 3.6 million Syrian refugees, it now looks like Turkey is trying to make northern Syria a refugee dumping ground."

Turkey said in its local media on Monday that Syrians had voluntarily returned to an area in northern Syria that has been cleared of "terrorists" by its forces.

Turkish officials told the Daily Sabah that its Operation Peace Spring "liberated" the Tal abyah district from The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist group.

Human Rights Watch said, though, that Syria remains unsafe for returning refugees, with many returning to government-controlled areas. The organization accused Syria of committing "grave human rights violations" against its own citizens even before its long-running civil war started.