Photo credit: ny times
Afghan migrants have accused Turkish border forces of beating, robbing and abandoning them in freezing weather near the Iranian border, leaving 11 people with amputations and at least 20 others dead, according to a BBC Afghan Forensiic investigation published by BBC’s Turkish service.
Turkish Minute reports that the investigation was based on interviews with 12 Afghan migrants, aged between 13 and 25, who said they were among a group of about 500 people detained in January in Van, an eastern Turkish province on the border with Iran and a route used by migrants trying to reach Europe.
The migrants alleged that Turkish security forces held them for several days in harsh conditions, beat them with iron rods, took their shoes, socks and belongings and later forced them toward Iran in groups while temperatures fell to minus 15 degrees Celsius. BBC Turkish reported.
Eleven people, including 13-year-old Asim, later had limbs amputated because of frostbite, while five of the migrants told the BBC they saw at least 20 people freeze to death.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry denied the allegations, telling BBC Afghan Forensic that Turkish border security forces act in line with national and international law and respect human dignity.
