Afghans fleeing violence unwelcome in Turkey
Human rights groups warn that thousands of Afghan refugees in Turkey face abuse and deportation as the country focuses on the millions of Syrian asylum-seekers ahead of this summer's vote.
Turkey’s waning enthusiasm for some 3.5 million-plus Syrian refugees is a compelling topic as millions of Turks prepare to cast their votes in snap polls due to be held on June 24.
Rights groups say the desperate plight of the rising wave of Afghan refugees in Turkey, however, has received scant attention as thousands are unlawfully deported by Turkish authorities to face incalculable risks back home.
In a press release issued today, Amnesty International condemned Turkish authorities for the way they're handling Turkey's swelling population of Afghan refugees, currently estimated at 145,000, who for the most part live in appalling conditions. The London-based watchdog said some 2,000 Afghans who fled to Turkey “to escape conflict and the worst excesses of the Taliban are in detention and at imminent risk of being forced back to danger.” The group added that the Turkish authorities appeared to be ramping up what it called "a deportation spree that has seen 7,100 Afghans rounded up and returned to Afghanistan since early April." The Afghans are being treated, it read, “more like criminals than people fleeing conflict and persecution."
Violence in the conflict-wracked Central Asian state has escalated in recent months. At least 57 people were killed on April 22 when a suicide bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State targeted a voter registration center in the capital, Kabul. Over 120 civilians and 322 others were injured in separate attacks in March alone.
