As mood sours, Syrians report forced deportations from Turkey
When
Syrian real estate worker Abu Ahmad was stopped by police in Istanbul, he
expected a ritual ticking-off for his expired documents before being allowed on
his way. Instead, he says he was bundled into a bus packed with 50 men and
deported to Syria.
The
31-year-old was stopped as he set off to meet a client in Turkey’s bustling
commercial hub where up to one million Syrians live – hundreds of whom have been
detained this month, according to authorities.
His
Turkish identity paper, known as a temporary protection permit, was valid for a
Turkish province on the Syrian border nearly 1,000 km (625 miles) southeast of
Istanbul.
In
previous encounters with authorities, Abu Ahmad had shown them an expired
travel permit allowing him to move around inside Turkey and escaped with a
reprimand.
This
time was different for him and dozens of other men who were piled into the bus
in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.
Ten
days later, he said he found himself at the Bab al-Hawa crossing into Idlib, a
northwestern Syrian province controlled by rebels and Islamist militants,
hundreds of kilometers from his home province of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria.
Four
others who spoke to Reuters in northern Syria said they had been forcibly sent
there in the past week. All had thought they were being transferred within
Turkey, not across the border to a country ruined by eight years of civil war.
An
employee at the Syrian Bab al-Hawa crossing told Reuters he recorded at least
4,500 Syrian returns this month, but could not say how many were voluntary
trips or forced deportations.
TURKISH
GRIEVANCES
The
numbers represent only a tiny fraction of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in
Turkey, but the detentions and transfers suggest authorities are stepping up
actions to address rumbling grievances over their prolonged presence.
They
follow two clashes in Istanbul when crowds attacked Syrian shops, now targets
of resentment for Turks who see Syrians as taking jobs and crowding out health
and education services while Turkey battles an economic recession.
Most
Syrians live in southern Turkish provinces near the border, but Istanbul
province holds the largest contingent. Many have started hiding at home,
waiting for the wave of arrests to recede and some stopping work to express
their anger.
Turkey’s
Interior Ministry said there are 547,000 Syrians registered in Istanbul, but
the city’s new mayor said the total Syrian population may be nearly double
that. Surveys conducted for the International Organization for Migration put
the total between 600,000 and 900,000, many registered elsewhere.
As
the mood sours toward Syrians, the Turkish government has repeated that it is
working to help Syrians cross back into Turkish-controlled parts of northern
Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that around 330,000 had
returned since Turkey launched military operations in Syria three years ago.
The
situation in Istanbul gained added prominence ahead of mayoral elections in
March and June, when candidates for both main parties said the city was
struggling to handle the Syrian influx.
On
Monday, Istanbul’s governor set a four-week deadline for Syrians without
Istanbul permits to return to provinces where they are registered or face
forced removal to those regions.
Interior
Minister Suleyman Soylu said that around 1,000 unregistered Syrians had been
detained in Istanbul in the last two weeks as part of a wider sweep for illegal
migrants, but denied that Turkey was deporting Syrians.
“There
are Syrians who are completely unregistered. We take these and send them to
camps,” he told broadcaster NTV. “We never have deported and cannot deport the
Syrians under the scope of temporary protection.”
“I
DON’T WANT TO BE DEPORTED”
A
week after Abu Ahmad was detained, he called his brother, Abu al-Deir, to say
he expected to be released and was just waiting for the paperwork to be
completed.
“Our
biggest fear was only him being sent back to Sanliurfa,” Abu al-Deir said,
referring to the Turkish border province where he was registered. “We didn’t
even consider him being deported to Syria.” Like his brother, he spoke to
Reuters on condition that he not be identified by his full name.
Abu
Ahmad said he was taken to a prison near the airport on the Asian side of
Istanbul. “The smell was inhumane,” he said, describing two inedible meals they
were given and the lawyer he said swindled detainees out of hundreds of dollars,
promising to get them released. Everyone who paid him was still deported.
A
policeman ordered him to sign paperwork in Turkish and Arabic that said he was
voluntarily returning to Syria. “I said: ‘This is for deportation. I don’t want
to be deported’.”
The
policeman told him that the undated document would only be used if he committed
a crime. Other policemen came in the room, yelling at and slapping some of the
detained Syrians until “everyone signed,” Abu Ahmad said.
Two
days later, Abu al-Deir got another call from his brother, this time from
inside Syria. “When he told us at first, we were surprised; we thought he was
joking,” said Abu al-Deir.
Abu
Ahmad’s wife, nine months pregnant, and Abu al-Deir took a 20-hour bus trip
from Istanbul to Sanliurfa. Although his wife is in the last stage of gaining
Turkish citizenship and his brother has a valid permit to stay in Istanbul, Abu
Ahmad said he fears they could both be picked up if they stay in the city,
because others with valid papers were deported along with him.
He
wants to be smuggled back, but then would have no valid documentation. He also
wants to get a lawyer to help sort matters out.
“What
makes you angry is, if you’d committed a crime, okay,” he said, pausing and
taking a sip of tea. “But no one has committed a crime.”