The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Turkish Jandarma kill Syrian civilians again and raise to 422, the number of civilian victims killed during their escape towards the Turkish territory

Turkish border guards or who are known as “Jandarma” continue to target by bullets the people who seek a safe life away from the tragedies of war in Syria, by attempting to enter the Turkish territory risking their lives and money, where the Syrian Observatory documented the death of a child girl who was shot by Turkish border guards while she was attempting to cross towards Turkey through the countryside of Idlib at the border with the Iskenderun, raising to 422 Syrian civilians at least, the number of people killed since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution, including 76 children under the age of eighteen and 38 citizen women over the age of eighteen, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the injury of hundreds of others in the continued targeting by the Turkish border guards for the Syrian citizens who escaped from the military operation in their areas towards places in which they can find a safe haven that keeps them away of the death that is following them in their country Syria, in order for their children to have a better life and their fate doesn’t end up to be like the fate of more than 20000 children killed since the start of the Syrian revolution, or the fate of tens of thousands of other children who had permanent disabilities, or the fate of thousands of children who were dragged into the military operation and turned into fighters and bombers.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 27th of February 2019 that death continues to chase the Syrian citizens wherever and whenever they go, where the death is their destiny from bombardment by warplanes to the ground shelling and assassinations, IED explosions, to end up being killing by the bullet of their guarantor in Idlib and its surroundings; their killer on the last frontier with their country as the Syrian citizens attempt to flee the horror of war, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of a young man from Deir Ezzor province by the Turkish border guards “Jandarma” while they were trying to cross into Turkey from the northern countryside of Idlib.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 14th od February 2019 that Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of a man while he was trying to cross to the Turkish territory from Idlib countryside, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: the man died at the Syrian border with the Iskenderun in the northern countryside of Jisr al-Shughur, as a result of the harsh cold and low temperatures, in addition to the obstacles he experienced in order to reach the Turkish territory like passing through swamps and mud-filled holes, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 10th of February 2019 that death did not leave any way to claim the lives of the Syrians, showing an appetite for the taste of civilian bodies who are looking for a place away of death, where the death did not get away of them on the ground of their country, and the last persecution of Syrians was what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored about the loss of about 12 civilians on the Syrian – Turkish border in the recent days while they were trying to reach the Turkish side, reliable sources told the Syrian Observatory that civilians -including displaced people from other Syrian areas- tried to get out and reach the Turkish side via the border areas with Idlib countryside; via smugglers who wanted to exploit the bad weather and fog to prevent their arrest by the Turkish Jandarma, but these operations caused at least 12 people to go missing and 2 of whom were confirmed dead so far, while the fate of the rest of them is still unknown, and other sources confirmed that those who got out towards the Turkish side are afraid to ask for help in case they lost those who got out with them, because they fear being arrested by the Turkish Jandarma who killed hundreds of Syrian civilians in the past days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published earlier that  the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights investigated the smuggling processes through the Syrian – Turkish border, the trafficking in people, through transport them from one country to another, in return for sums of money, and the threats faced by those fleeing from the Syrian interior, during the trip to reach the Turkish territory, where reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory, that the smuggling process starts through brokers on the social media and in border areas, whose job is limited to bring customers, and persuade them to leave towards Turkey, by talks about the ease of the trip in order to get their acceptance, after driving away the customers’ fears completely, and when they are persuaded, a specific date is dealt and the customers are gathered in on place, waiting for being launched towards the Turkish territory, in return for sums of many where the reliable sources confirmed that they are varying from a smuggler to another and from a road’s nature to another, where sums of money exceed 500 Dollars are imposed, and despite the shock of the people who want to flee to the Turkish territory, of the bad treatment and insult and of going along a way that is full of blood and death, but this does not discourage customers from completing their trip towards the Turkish side through the border strip.

The reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory, that in the case that the people who fled from Syria, reach the Turkish side safely, they are filmed by the brokers to assure the customers of the verity and ease of the trip, and they have previous cases of people who have reached the Turkish territory safely, while some smugglers turn to extort the residents fleeing from the hell of the war, through asking for extra money when they enter the border, under varying pretexts, such as paying the fee of the vehicle or paying bribes for the Turkish patrol, while in some cases extra money is imposed with the arrival in the Turkish territory, under threat by smugglers in the Turkish side, to hand over the newcomers to the Turkish Jandarma, if a sum of money reaches about 150 Dollars is not paid.

Also people moved through the Turkish – Syrian border, reported that shooting and killing by the Turkish Jandarma, are being carried out almost daily, where the smugglers sometimes manage to deliver their customers and transport them to the Turkish side, but in many cases, the smuggling processes failed, where in many cases the smugglers and their customers are arrested and they are beaten and insulted by the Turkish border guards, and the sources confirmed that the smugglers are subjected to more violent beating, which reaches to crash their limbs or cause disability, and the torture goes beyond beatings with hands, and reaches to the beating with nightsticks, white weapons and the butts of guns, even it reaches that some smugglers are shot, in order to be prevented from returning to smuggling, and the SOHR documented some cases in which smugglers were subjected to gunfire at their legs and feet which caused disabilities, after being arrested for many time, where one of the smugglers confirmed to the SOHR that he was arrested several times and he denied that he works as a smuggler and that he came to enter Turkey for work, until he was revealed by an officer saw the detained Syrian smuggler by chance, where he quickly shot him at his foot which caused permanent disability for the young man.

These processes of smuggling have not stopped at the attraction to push people to leave, the shock of the rough way, the difficulty of the smuggling process which takes several hours, and the smugglers’ insulting treatment, in addition to the inhumane treatment by the Turkish Jandarma, but they went beyond to assault attempts and assaults against girls by the smugglers during the smuggling, in addition to killing their customers and throwing the bodies in the bushes or in al-Assi River, after seizing their money and possessions, claiming that they were killed by the Turkish border guards, in addition to the killing by the Turkish Jandarma against citizens, the death of hundreds of whom have been documented by the Syrian Observatory by Human Rights since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution, the smuggling also includes the transport of prohibited goods and stuffs like drugs, while the smugglers’ inhuman treatment went beyond to leave those who are not able to complete their way, in the valleys and bushes on the smuggling road to Turkey, where the SOHR monitored the missing of tens of people in these smuggling processes, in addition to the escape of the smuggler in the case that he felt that he is about to be arrested by the Turkish border guards.