HRW Condemns Turkey's Illegal Transfer of Syrian Detainees

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned Turkey's illegal transfer of Syrian detainees, including Arabs and Kurds, from northeast Syria for trials in Turkey.

In a report, the HRW said that Turkey and its affiliated Syrian National Army have arrested and illegally transferred at least 63 Syrian nationals from northeast Syria to Turkey to face trial on serious charges that could lead to life in prison.

The rights group called on Turkish authorities to “immediately allow all detainees in their custody to contact their families, whether in Turkey or outside of it, and update families on their status.”

“All Syrian detainees who were transferred to Turkey should be repatriated to the occupied territories in Syria immediately,” it added.

Documents obtained by HRW “show that the detainees were arrested in Syria and transferred to Turkey in violation of Turkey’s obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention as an occupying power in northeast Syria.”

On his part, Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at HRW, 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," he noted.

According to HRW, Turkish authorities and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army arrested the Syrian nationals, both Arabs and Kurds, between October and December 2019 in Ras al-Ayn (Serekaniye), in northeast Syria, after Turkey’s so-called Peace Spring Operation in October 2019.

“The men were transferred to detention facilities in Turkey, where prosecutorial authorities have charged them with offenses under the Turkish Penal Code, even though the alleged crimes took place in Syria.”