MONITORING (SW) – At least 365 more Afghan citizens have been expelled by Turkey in the past two days, said media reports.
On the other hand, a number of immigrants deported from Turkey say that while they were detained and in prison, Turkish soldiers beat them and then forcibly returned them to Afghanistan.
Sajjad, one of the deported migrants from Turkey who now lives in Kabul, said that he spent all his capital to get to Turkey and now he is struggling with poverty due to unemployment. He added: “Due to economic problems, we had to go to Iran and then to Turkey. The difficulties of the road were many; It was cold and the soldiers beat us a lot, and after five months of trying, we crossed the Turkish border. We were in Turkey for six months when the police arrested us and then they returned us.”
Haris, another citizen who was recently expelled from Turkey and now lives in Iran, said that despite many problems and enduring hunger and thirst, he reached Turkey; But he wwas expelled gain. He aadded “We were in the camp for almost 15 days and we faced many problems. They did not give proper food and water and their behavior towards the immigrants was very ugly. Even to the extent that once at night and once in the morning, they would beat us with a stick and then forcefully expel us.”
A number of Afghan immigrants who are now living in Turkey say that they have not been able to move freely in the cities for some time now.
Rashid, a citizen residing illegally in Turkey, says he cannot leave his workplace for fear of being arrested by the police. He added: “We just have to work. We can’t even get a mobile phone card, go to the hospital; That means wherever we want to go, we have to go through smugglers. Now the limits have doubled to tripled. I myself work at night because of fear and I don’t go out at all.”
However, officials in the Ministry of Migrants and Returnees demand the Turkish government to deal with Afghan citizens based on international migration laws. Abdulmutallab Haqqani, the spokesman of this ministry, said: “Our request to Afghans who go to other countries is that they should try to go legally. We ask the Turkish government to deal with immigrants in a good manner and according to international laws.”
ENDS
