afrinpost-Exclusive
A young man from the town of Rityan in northern Aleppo was fatally shot by Turkish gendarmerie while attempting to enter Turkish territory through the Syrian-Turkish border from the Idlib side.
Our correspondent reported that Turkish authorities had deported Mustafa Taha Haj Khalil to Idlib several months ago, after forcing him to sign a voluntary return document. When Mustafa attempted to return to Turkey through smuggling routes to reunite with his family there, the Turkish gendarmerie shot him and left his body inside Syrian territory.
Since the beginning of 2023, Turkish gendarmerie have killed 27 people, with over 111 others injured while attempting to cross the border, including individuals left permanently disabled due to brutal beatings, kicking, and being thrown behind the border barrier while bleeding.
Meanwhile, forcibly displaced individuals have reached around a thousand since the beginning of September through Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salama, and Tell Abyad crossings. Turkish authorities collected all their personal identification and biometric data to ensure they don’t return to Turkish territory.
The director of the Turkish Presidency’s migration office in Istanbul confirmed that all “non-compliant” Syrian refugees in the province would be deported to northern Syria after September 24.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on the evening of September 18 that nearly 600,000 Syrians had returned to their homeland so far, and “with the completion of permanent housing construction in northwestern Syria, another million people will be added to them.
